I'm Sorry
by purrfictionist
Summary: A FanFic based after TGL and is about Jill trying to cope with life being a princess. Together, her and her friends learn of a secret with the help of a new friend. When her worst nightmares come true and all of Jill's friends are paying a huge price for something she didn't notice before, what will she do to help them? How will she save herself from death? T for possible violence.
1. Prologue

**Hey guys! Purrfictionist here. Here's the prologue for my new story on Bloodlines. Enjoy and don't forget to Read and Reply! I'd like at least one comment before I post the next chapter. :)**

Prologue

Jillian:

"Tie it tighter," someone says.

I can recognize that voice anywhere. I've heard it a thousand times. That familiar sing-song voice that's so amazingly light and carefree. It's a voice you'd hear singing in plays, laughing with friends and cracking jokes. It's a voice that doesn't belong here, with _them_.

The Strigoi behind me pulls the rag around my mouth and I wince as the rough cloth scratches against my mouth. Blood runs down my mouth and I can watch the blood-thirsty red eyes of the Strigoi as they watch my blood drop drip into the puddle of water and blood on the wooden ground.

Loud hisses break out of the dark room and I push back against my cell. I'm bleeding, in front of at least six Strigoi who live for nothing but blood. My stomach churns and my eyes start to burn with tears. The Voice growls and I hear rapid footsteps tapping against the floor of the dungeon.

"We must keep her alive," The Voice calls. "You can feast on her later; turn her or whatever you want to do. Remember our Master's rules."

"Fine," a Strigoi hisses back. "But no promises."

Tears run down my cheeks and I swallow back a sob. A door opens and I feel my hands go limp by my side in fear. I can't die, at least not yet.

"Master called for you guys," someone calls. "He said that I should guard the girl until you return."

"Alright, make sure you watch her carefully," The Voice says.

"I will."

The door closes and a cold silence fills the air. Blood trickles down my chin and from my wrists. My head starts to grow heavier, and heavier from blood loss and I slump to the ground. I take small, rapid breaths through my aching lungs and I pull my legs up to my chest.

They're going to kill me.

I am going to die and the worst part of it all is that no one's going to rescue me. I'm all alone with no chances of living. I shut my eyes tight under the rag tied around my head and I start to shiver.

Sydney's in re-education, my link with Adrian is gone, Micah's avoiding me and Eddie's arrested all because I didn't see it earlier. I was too blind to see that_they_ were playing their charades game right in front of me all the time. If only had I noticed before . . . none of this would have happened.

Loud voices from out the door start to roar out from the small crack between the door and the wooden floor.

"It is too early!" someone says.

"We cannot rush this," The Voice adds in.

"We have no choice," the Master says. "It is time. We must go and bring the girl. I am sure that when they hear her screams, they will make a move."

"No," I whisper. "No, please, no!" I sob as the door flies open.

The Strigoi run into the room and crack open the cage. I take my chances and push myself up to my feet with great effort and make a run out of the room.

The Strigoi laughs- clearly amused- and grabs me by my hair.

I scream and try to pry their fingers from my tangled hair and make things even worse. The Strigoi pushes me down onto my knees, his two long fangs only a matter of centimeters away from my throat.

"Struggle and you'll regret it," he hisses.

My hands dangle by my side motionless and I look up into those dark red eyes, frozen.

The Strigoi pulls me up to my feet and out of the dark room with his friends laughing. The Strigoi leads me through a dark corridor that's lit by a small light bulb.

A weird painting of simple red and black brush strokes spreads across the wall.

He pushes me further into the corridor and stops walking. He peers into the darkness as if he's looking for something and then nods. He gives me a strong push into the darkness and steps away from me. His hand drops from my hair and finds its place in his pocket as he backs away from me, his friends in his shadows.

Where's he going? What's happening? Why'd he let me go?

I stumble forward and lean against the wall. I step away from the darkness the Strigoi left me in and bump into a huge bar table I didn't notice before. A low chuckle breaks the eerie silence and I can feel my heart pound hard against my chest.

The person steps out of the shadows and my knees weaken beneath my feet.

"Why?" I whisper as I take in the Master's cold smile. "Why are you doing this?"

"For many reasons Jillian Dragomir. For so many reasons," the Master replies evilly.

The Master steps forward and something shiny and bright catches the light.

It's a dagger.

I let out a cry and I start to run back the way the Strigoi had left. The Master laughs and walks behind me twirling his dagger in the air impatiently.

There has to be a way out of here.

Is that light? The smallest of all rays of sunlight sneaks in through a slightly open window. A window's exactly what I need to get out of here.

_Come on Jillian,_ I tell myself._You can do it._

I take a long stride towards the window and run into something hard and cold. Metal. My hands wrap around the bars of the door keeping me away from the window.

"No!" I cry. My hands tighten around the cold bars and I shake it harder. "No!"

"I have a surprise for you," the Master says walking out of the shadows with a phone held out. "Say hi to your friends Jillian."

I stay silent.

"Say it!"

I sob and drop down on to my knees, tired and weak.

"Leave her alone!" someone shouts through the phone.

I perk up at the familiar voice. "Eddie," I whisper.

He's out of jail.

"Let her go," someone else demands angrily. Adrian. "We'll do what you want, alright? Just let her go!"

The Master cackles and reaches out to grab me by my hair. I scream as he pulls me closer to him and the phone.

"Do you know how many times I have heard someone say that to me?" he asks. "'We'll do what you want, just let her go!' It never happens, Ivashkov. It never happens!"

The Master pulls out the dagger and slashes it across my arm. I scream and drop to the floor as the blood trickles down to my fingers. A sudden wave of fire flashes across my skin and I start to sob harder as the Master slashes my other arm.

"Eddie!" I cry. "Adrian!"

"Jill?" Eddie cries back. "I swear if you hurt her, I'll kill you. I'll kill you before anyone can stop me!"

Voices crackle behind Eddie's and the Master frowns.

"You're taping me," the Master says.

Silence fills the room.

"You are going to regret that, boy."

The Master stretches out the bloody dagger and uses the end to knock me hard on the head. I scream and hold my pounding head in my hands. My eyes start to grow heavy and Adrian's and Eddie's screams start to lower into small whispers and suddenly disappear. I roll my eyes up to look at the Master who is leaning down on the floor next to me with the phone besides him, smashed into tiny little pieces.

My eyes start to flutter close but I manage to look up into those chilling eyes that were once full of happiness and life.

"Take her to the room," the Master orders, standing up. "We are moving on to Plan B because Ms. Dragomir's friends weren't cooperative at all. They were tracking us. They're goal is to attack us in order to get back their dear princess. If we are going to succeed with our plan, my dear friends, we will have to carry out the execution."


	2. Lunch

**Purrfictionist here! Here's the next chapter. I couldn't come up with a better title so it's called Lunch. If I get at least five replies, I'll post a new chapter today. And thanks for the review!**

**Mrs. Castile: Don't worry. I got this one all planned out **

Chapter One

Jillian

Lunch

"Hey," Sydney says peeking into my room. "Jill?"

"In hear," I call from the hall.

I hear the door close behind her as she walks through the narrow corridor that grows out wide into the hall. I look up from my textbook and take in the small change in her everyday khakis. Of course Sydney Melbourne, the Alchemist, also known as my "sister" was wearing her every day khaki pants only this time, she was wearing a green turtle neck and a pair of boots.

It was starting to get cold here in California believe it or not. A cold front started to move in from the Pacific Ocean. Ever since Halloween, our clothes are starting to grow thinner and thinner by the day.

"Did you drop of Sonya?" I ask.

"Yeah, I did," Sydney replies as she sits down next to me. She reaches deep down into her khaki's pocket and pulls out a small palm sized picture. "Before she left, she gave me this picture saying that Clarence had asked her to give it to me."

"Clarence?" I say thoughtfully.

Clarence is a strange old man with a boat load of creepy things to talk about all day but everything he says seems to be impossible to believe but after the Warrior incident, nothing seems crazy anymore.

I look down at the picture in Sydney's hands and raise my eyebrows in shock. "That's Clarence?" I ask.

Sydney smiles at my expression. "He is."

Clarence looks so young and happy. The Clarence in the picture is nothing like the Clarence now who's cooped up in his gigantic house all day.

My eyes scan the picture and let out a gasp as I take in the guy standing next to Clarence. This guy must be a lot younger than Clarence, maybe around Adrian or Eddie's age. He has blond hair and blue eyes and it's his cheek that's the most catching part of him all. On his long cheekbone is a hard to miss dark tattoo that swirls all the way from his cheek to his ear.

"Marcus Finch?" I whisper. "He's that alchemist Clarence knew right?"

Sydney nods grimly. "Yes. Marcus apparently is a huge rogue alchemist," she explains. "He stepped down for some reason."

"Why'd he quit?"

"I don't know," Sydney says. "But I'm going to find out."

We stare at the picture silently wondering why a person so young like this stepped down. I remember Clarence saying something about him earlier when I had to go for my feedings.

"A smart young boy he was, but a story follows behind him, a story that can knock us all of us out like a high tide might on a full moon night. It's that very tide that had sunk the alchemist's trust in him."

I shiver and look down at the boy before me. He seems so light… and carefree, laughing with Clarence. How can he be accused of being bad?

The door suddenly flies open and loud footsteps echo through the dorm room as they grow louder and louder. Angeline steps into the hall with a huge smile spread across her face. I didn't have to be a spirit user to feel the happiness radiating off of her.

"I was looking everywhere for you guys. I tried to call you Jill but you weren't picking up and now lunch is almost over!" Angeline squeals.

"It must have been on silent," I mumble as Angeline pulls me and Sydney up to our feet.

I blush and pull my hand from Angeline. There had been a reason I was in my dorm doing my homework for two continuous hours instead of going out with my friends and having lunch. I had been trying to avoid Angeline for most of the day. She keeps going on non-stop about Eddie and every single time she brings him up in our conversations, I feel as if someone shot me right through the heart.

And then there's Micah. Poor Micah looked so upset when I broke up with him and him and Eddie share the same dorm. What if he told Eddie about me breaking up with him?

What if Eddie asks why I broke up with Micah?

How can I ever answer that?

My stomach does another flip as Angeline pulls me out of my dorm, kicking the door close behind her. Sydney glances over at me and raises her eyebrows.

"Did you tell her?" she mouths.

I shake my head.

Sydney gives me a disappointed frown as we walk into the huge courtyard. A cold breeze sweeps by and rakes across my bare arms. I sigh glumly as I wrap my arms around myself for warmth. I had forgotten to grab a jacket to cover up my shirt.

"You found her," someone says. Eddie.

I look up from the courtyard's floor and meet Eddie's worried hazel eyes.

"Yep, she was in her dorm, doing homework all day," Angeline explains. "And her phone was on silent."

"Jill," Eddie says standing up. "Do you know how many time Angeline called you. We were worried that something had happened to you and that the W-"

Warriors. He was going to say the Warriors. Something cold runs through my body and I take a step back. Why would the Warriors be here on campus. Of course Trey's here but he won't do anything.

Micah stares from him to me, to Sydney and then to Angeline.

"They were here?" I whisper.

"Who was here?" Micah says.

"The Walters," Sydney covers, her voice alert and still. "Our uncle's family dropped by for a visit. We don't really like them, they're a bit… off."

"No," Eddie says a little too quickly. "We just wanted to make sure you were ok. When you didn't pick up the phone, we started making assumptions."

I nod silently sitting down next to Micah.

"Right," I say looking at him. He was lying.

"You two must be hungry," Angeline points out. "You should go get some lunch before the cafeteria closes."

"I'm not really hungry," Sydney says pulling out a book from her bag. "Jill should go get something though, she looks hungry."

"That's true," Eddie says his eyes flickering to Angeline. "Angeline, you should go with Jill."

"I can go with Jill," Micah blurts out. "If um, that's ok."

Something flickers across Eddie's face and he nods. "Of course," he says looking around the courtyard again and then nods at me. I'd be safe if I was in a crowd.

Shocked, I push myself up to my feet and together, Micah and I head off in silence towards the cafeteria. Micah stands tall over me, an inch smaller than Eddie. His shadow casts out long over me as I push open the huge, glass cafeteria doors. An eerie silence greets us into the almost empty cafeteria and I hold back a shiver as the AC washes over me at full force.

"Your siblings are very protective of you," he says finally.

I fight back a smile. "Yeah, I guess they are."

"You're lucky."

"Thanks," I say.

He looks at me longingly as I drop a piece of pizza onto my plate, waiting for me to say something. I avoid his eyes and pay for the slice and start to walk out of the cafeteria with Micah in my shadows. As I reach the doors of the cafeteria, I stop walking and turn around so that I'm facing Micah.

He's already looking down at me with his hurt light blue eyes and his messy red hair falling over his forehead.

"Micah?" I whisper.

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry about breaking up with you."

He shrugs. "It's ok Jill maybe being friends will do us both good."

I sigh in relief. "That's so good to hear Micah. Um, did you by any chance tell Eddie about us breaking up?"

He shakes his head no, and I practically faint in relief.

"No, I haven't actually. I was too busy studying for the semester exams I didn't get to tell him. Why are you asking?"

"It's just that I didn't really want Eddie or Angeline or anyone to know. They already have too much on their shoulders and I don't really want to add to it."

Micah nods. "Of course, I won't tell him."

Smiling, Micah and I head back out in a much more comforting silence. As my eyes flicker over to our table, I catch something red flickering in the far distance and I watch it disappear right before my eyes. My hands on my tray loosen as I step back in horror as I take in what I had just seen. That wasn't a leaf, it was hair.

Someone had been watching us.


	3. A Walk

**Hey guys Purrfictionist here! Thanks for reviewing my story Mrs. Castile and I am glad that you love it! Thanks to those who are now following my story and thanks Mrs. Castile and Random-ness2495 for following my story! Your follows and reviews make my day! I hope you enjoy this chapter! Read and Reply! **

Chapter Three

Sydney

A Walk 

I sit in my room and look at the picture Sonya had given me. Marcus Finch, the ex-alchemist was fired for some serious reason because no one ever talks about him. The only reason he could have been fired was because he had a relationship with Clarence, a Moroi. He probably was sent to a re-education center where his mind was washed but for some odd reason, I feel like there is more to the former alchemist. There was something dark about him. The alchemists must have fired him for some other reason besides having a relationship with Clarence.

My stomach churns and I lean against my pillow and close my eyes. It had been only few days since the day I left Adrian after he had kissed me. I had hurt him badly. A cold feeling rushes over me as I sit up in bed. What if Stanton found out about Adrian and me? She'd throw me in the re-education center like the alchemists must have done with Marcus, and then she would fire me, for sure. My father would rather have me fired then to go back to work after I was re-educated for his pride's sake.

My cell phone rings besides me and I practically jump out of bed as the monotonous ringtone echoes through my dorm. I reach across my bed for my cell that's sitting on the side table.

It was Jillian. I flip open my phone quickly and press it against my ear.

"Jill, what's wrong?" I ask.

She sighs and I can see her rolling her eyes. "Is that like your signature or something? Every time I call you ask if something's wrong."

I blush. "Sorry, force of habit. What's up?"

"I wanted to see if you wanted to go for a walk. We still have ten minutes before curfew."

I look at my watch. "Alright, where are you?" I ask.

"Right out the girl's dorm and bring a jacket this time."

I smile. "Ok, I'll be out in a second."

I shut my cell and climb out of bed. I quickly slide a hoodie over my plain white t-shirt and silently debate whether or not I should change my sweatpants. I finally decide on leaving them for the time's sake and walk out of the girl's dorm building to find Jillian leaning against a pole.

I meet her tensed green eyes and frown.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she says again.

"Jillian," I say as I walk up to her. "I am your alchemist, we need to talk."

"Taking care of me isn't your job Sydney, it's my guardians' jobs but they're too busy making googly eyes at each other," she snaps.

I feel a wave of pity wash over me as I watch Jill avert her eyes from me as we walk along the side walk. Poor Jill has to watch Angeline drool all over Eddie all day and talk about him all night. I reach for her hand and gently squeeze it, surprised by my own action.

I clear my throat and drop my hand as I remember who she is, or what she is.

"I'm sorry Jill, about Eddie and all," I say. "I feel like it's my fault that you broke up with Micah."

Jill looks at me shocked. "Sydney, it would have never worked out between me and Micah even if I hadn't broke up with him and well with Eddie, I guess was us too late. I was too blinded to notice how sweet he is. None of this is your fault."

"What isn't your fault?" someone says.

Jill and I turn around and come face to face with Eddie. Jill blushes scarlet red and turns back around.

"Nothing," she mumbles.

He shrugs and stuffs his hands in his pockets. "Where are you guys going?"

"We're just walking for a while until curfew," I tell him. "Do you want to join?"

"Of course, where's Angeline? She should be with Jillian when she's out at night."

Jill's eyes roll down to the floor and I feel another wave of pity wash over me. Jill had ditched Angeline.

Jill shrugs. "I didn't really ask her,"

Eddie frowns. "Jill you should have asked her, you know you can't go out at night by yourself."

"I just wanted to be alone," she says.

"Then why is Sydney with you?" he demands.

"She caught up with me as I was walking alright? What's your problem?"

Eddie stops walking and looks at Jill with his mouth hanging open lightly, hurt. "I'm sorry Jill, I just wanted to protect you."

She stops walking and shakes her head. "I'm going back to my dorm, I don't feel very well."

Eddie didn't say anything as Jill speed walks back the way we came, practically running.

"Was I too harsh?" he whispers almost too himself.

I give him a small smile. "Now, you were just really concerned."

He nods slowly and sits down on the bench behind him. "I was just worried Sydney, she was acting very differently ever since lunch. When she came back from the cafeteria she had these weird look on her face. I asked Angeline if she had seen this and she said that Jill looked fine. She told me that I was seeing things that weren't there."

"I think that Jill's acting a bit weird too. When I came out she looked freaked out and she also looked like she was hiding something."

Eddie grows silent again and looks at his watch. "I should be going, it's ten."

I nod. "Alright, good night Eddie,"

"'Night Sydney," he says in a distant voice.

I sigh and head back towards the girls' dorm building. I thought that things would pipe down after the warrior incident but clearly I was wrong. Now another thing just got added to my list of to do list.


	4. A Dagger To The Heart

**Hey Purrfictionist here! Here is Chapter Three. If anyone noticed, the last chapter accidently went in as Chapter Three instead of Chapter Two. Hahaha, laugh all you want, I know it's totally unpurrfictionist of me. I'll change it soon ****. Please read and review! I want more than on review if you guys want me to post the next chapter! And as always, thank you Mrs. Castile as always for reviewing and Ranom-ness2495 and Mrs. Castile for following me! **

Chapter Three

Jillian

A Dagger To The Heart

A strange heavy cloud wraps around my body as I roll over in my bed. A strange, foreign taste fogs my mouth and my eyes flutter open as I glance at the clock. It's only six o'clock in the morning. I can make it in time for first period if I sleep in for another thirty minutes. I pull the covers over my head again and feel myself being pulled into a deep sleep.

Loud music fills the air and I feel my bed shaking from the loud beats. Voices low and high ring through my ear and I hear something scratchy in the distance.

"No," I moan pulling my pillow over my head. "Make it go away."

A warm hand gently shakes my shoulder and I let out a growl.

"Go away," I groan.

"Jill, you have to get up now if you want to make it in time for school," a familiar high pitched voice says.

"Ten more minutes,"

I hear in an impatient sigh and the sound of a door slamming close. I let out a small sigh as the room fills with a beautiful silence. My eyes flutter close again when I hear loud screaming. I moan and start to sob.

"I want to sleep," I whisper. "I wanna sleep please, please Adrian."

Of course he couldn't hear me; the bond was only one way. The loud music and the screaming continued until my ears start ringing, and my body turns numb. My occasional tears turn into loud, ear piercing screeches and body shaking sobs and after few minutes, my eyes finally start to shut close when someone starts knocking at the door.

"Jill?" she screams. "Jill open the door now, it's me Sydney!"

I inhale sharply and sit up in bed to look at the time. It's twelve o'clock in the afternoon?! Oh God, I thought sitting up. I quickly run to the bathroom and splash my face with water before racing to the door. I unlock the door and step aside as it swings open to reveal a very concerned Sydney.

"Where were you?" she says looking into my eyes and then stops herself. "Jill did you get any sleep, you have bags under your eyes."

"Of course I slept, why wouldn't I sleep?" I ask her.

Sydney winces and steps away from me. "Have you been drinking?" she whispers.

I shake my head and close my mouth immediately. Crap. She narrows her eyes, catching on quickly.

"It was Adrian wasn't it?" she says. "That's it; I'm tired of watching him drink all night and never thinking once about how it affects you. He has to learn to stop being so selfish."

I grab her arm as she turns around on her heals. "And exactly why is he getting drunk Sydney? Have you ever though that you would be the reason?"

Sydney freezes.

"I saw Sydney; you couldn't hide it from me anyhow."

"Jill I did what I had to do," she says defending herself. "You know that."

My eyes start to burn and I feel tears run down my wet cheeks as I look into her eyes.

"You did what you were told to Sydney, you did what your book of rules told you to, you didn't do what your heart said!" I yell.

This knocks her out. She grabs her arm from me as if I was some insect, and turns away from me, locking herself into that very same shell she was in when I first met her.

"Just go get ready Jillian, I'll go pull some strings," Sydney says walking away.

I close the door hard behind her and run to the bathroom. I turn on the tap and push my face into the cold, icy water. I can hear Adrian's moans and practically see the corner of the bar, isolated from everyone with his head on his table, his body shaking.

"Oh Adrian," I whisper as I turn of the tap. I look into the mirror and take in the stranger in the mirror. "I'm sorry."

~:~

I walk down the halls of the California Academy and shrug off my jacket. It's a lot warmer than it was yesterday night, very typical of California. I start to open my locker to get my math textbook when someone grabs me from behind and pulls me into the shadows. A scream rushes up my throat and I turn around to find that the hallway is empty. There's no one in this room except me.

I swallow and quickly open my locker and grab my textbook, slam the locker shut and race out of the locker room. I run down the hallway and bump right into someone with a very familiar red t-shirt.

I gasp and step back to look into Micah's sky blue eyes.

"Jill?" Micah says. "Are you ok?"

"I'm ok," I tell him.

Micah looks at me concerned but doesn't say anything as he holds the door of my math class room open for me.

"Aren't you coming in?"

I nod and look over my shoulder to see if anyone had followed me and nod. "Yeah," I say.

I start to step into the math classroom when my eyes flicker over to the corner of the hallway where a very tall figure stands over a much smaller one. Both figures are very recognizable, especially the tall one. It's Eddie and Angeline. I can see Eddie bending down to Angeline saying something that's clearly making her happy enough to squeal loud enough as she throws her arms around Eddie's neck.

"Jill, what's wrong?" Micah asks gently touching my arm.

My heart starts to thud louder as I watch Eddie's face tilt towards Angeline's pretty face. My hands start to shake by my side as I turn away from them and race into the classroom without looking back at Micah or Eddie and Angeline.


	5. Heart's Truth

**Hey! Thank you guys for the reviews and for following me! Sorry I took so long to update and that to being a short chapter. I got held up by school! Sorry **** Read and Reply and I'll try to post a new chapter this weekend. **

Chapter 4

Sydney

Heart's Truth

"Have you gotten what I asked for?" Miss Terwilliger asks as she sets down the book she had been reading before I sneaked into her room.

I look into the bag before me. "I got the paper, the water bottles, a flower vase and the ink," I say.

Miss Terwilliger nods. "Good, now we will be completely ready for our experiment," she says reaching for the bag.

I freeze. "Experiment?"

I have been hoping that the sudden demand of groceries meant that we're taking a break from the long, continuous hours of practicing magic. After the incident with the Warriors, Miss Terwilliger has been increasing our practice time and it's been bothering me. Perhaps bothering isn't the word. There are just so many feelings rumbling inside my from the near death experience and then Adrian. There isn't one word that can describe what's fluttering within my heart right now.

"_Rent out books like this one," she suggested handing me a dusty book. "Get the touch of magic Sydney, find the meaning of magic, find out what it is, how it feels like, it's then when you will be able to truly master magic."_

I didn't do one thing Miss Terwilliger recommended me to do. I don't need to look up the meaning of magic and I'm not going to learn it. These magic lessons are a one trial thing. I got a lucky chance at coming out alive from the Warriors. And those herbs, the ones that go in pasta and salads could kill someone. That stuff isn't supposed to belong in my hands. It's not right. If I need protection, I can go to Wolfe's and get more lessons but magic is not answer and it will never be. It's unnatural, and inhumane, another reason why I'm not supposed to be here for more lessons. I'm a human, I'm an Alchemist.

"Yes Sydney," Miss Terwilliger says smiling. "We're doing an experiment."

"It's not possible to make magic out of ink, a flower vase, paper and water bottles."

Miss Terwilliger smiles. "I believe you have not read that book I have given you have you Miss Sage?"

I blush. "No miss," I say. "And I'm not going to. Magic… it's against my belief. I already know what the definition of magic is and there is no point in me looking it up."

"Sydney, do you really know what magic is?"

"Yes," I tell her. "It's an unnatural force of element that should be obviated for its purposes."

"Is magic really that harmful Sydney?" Miss Terwilliger asks. "Someone told me that it saved you a few days ago. What did you think about magic back then? Was it a blessing or a curse?"

I stop breathing. "How do you know that?"

"I have my sources," she says shrugging.

"It was Trey wasn't it?" I demand. "How much do you know?"

She grows silent and lets the rage rush through me. How could he tell her what had happened that night? How could he tell her of the existence of vampires, of a princess within the academy's grounds? If one little word slips out of town, my job, my life, and everything will be taken away from me. I'd have broken the most importance alchemist law.

Keep the people away from them, and them away from the people.

I'd be proclaimed as an irresponsible alchemist and I'll be demoted for not looking out for any leaks in my territory that might be capable of exposing the truth from the shadows. I swallow and watch as Miss Terwilliger shakes her head calmly.

"I only know that you used magic to protect yourself Sydney, for what reason, I do not know," she says as if she had read my mind. "That doesn't even pertain to the reason why I brought this up. I brought this topic up because I wanted to tell you what you truly believe and what you are forcing yourself to be. Be yourself Sydney, do what you heart wants you to do, don't do what others tell you to do."

My heart gives a tiny jump. There it was again said in the same words. "Be yourself Sydney, be what you truly believe and what you are forcing yourself to be. Be yourself Sydney, do what your heart tells you to do, don't do what others tell you to do. What is your hear telling you?"

"This is what my heart is telling me to do Miss Terwilliger," I tell her.

Miss Terwilliger nods grimly. "Like it or not Miss Sage, I want a very detailed report on magic and the other elements that hold the world together on my desk in a month from today. You will be dismissed from my classes on that very day. Until then, you will remain as my student."

I nod quickly, not wanting to push it, and reach out for the book she hands me.

"You may leave now."

My hands tighten around the book as I head out of the room. A nice, cold breeze hits me and I stop in front of Miss Terwilliger's office to look up at the sky blue sky and the bright sun. I close my eyes and lean against the brick wall. Warmth envelopes me in its lulling blanket and protects me from the early winter's rough winds.

"_What is your heart telling you?" _

What is my heart telling me?


	6. A Fight

**Hey guys! Thank you for the review! In this chapter, Adrian finally gets into action and gets pretty defensive over a certain someone. Hmmm I wonder who? Anyway, there's also a little Jillian and Eddie fluff So read ahead and don't forget to review. They always make my day!**

**P.S: Is anyone else excited for the Indigo Spell Trailer today?!**

Chapter 5

Jillian

A Fight

"Hey Jillian," a high pitched voice calls out from behind me.

I stop walking and turn around to face a pair of cold pale blue eyes that I sadly have come to known.

"Hello Ana," I say as my hands tighten on my textbook.

Ana Dane is the queen of the entire group of jocks and cheerleaders in the entire academy. Her record is as clean as Sydney's and has perfect grades. She's what everyone thinks is a natural student for Harvard but truth be told, she's none other than a lying, blackmailing crook. One that can make you drop down on your knees and practically do anything. After all, her mother is the headmaster of the academy.

"I haven't seen you in a while since your sister decided to blow up the punch bowl at the Halloween Ball, and let me tell you," she says smiling snidely as she walks around me in circles. "I missed you."

I try to stand tall on my knees and look at her boldly and only managed to let out a rushed "So,"

Ana chuckles as she reaches out to touch my arm. "I thought that I should bring you out of the shadows and into the light. You have talent Jillian, talent that should be known to the world. You can walk like a model," she says trying to push something that I have been trying very hard to forget. "And you look like one. You might as well be one right?"

She knows. Oh God Eddie, Angeline Sydney where are you guys when I need you? My hands ball up into fists and I remember what Eddie had told me a long time ago when I was at court. Stand tall, be brave, and think straight. Easier said then done, that's for sure.

"What do you want Ana?"

"I want you to join the Christmas Ball committee," she says.

"Why do you want me to join the Christmas Ball committee?" I ask. I am well aware of Ana's Christmas Ball committee. Every girl who wants to run for Winter Queen has to have a committee that concentrates on creating a part of the Ball like decorating the room, or help making the food. The best Committee's leader becomes the queen.

"Because the Christmas Ball is the biggest event in the academy and trust me, Prom is like homecoming compared to this. Becoming a Winter Queen is like becoming queen of the world. You practically stand on top of the entire academy. And you Jillian are honestly becoming the talk of the school. I need someone as big as you to be on my decorating committee."

"What if I don't want to be on your committee?" I ask her.

The last thing I want to picture myself doing is playing as her friend and then help her become queen, a role that she does not deserve.

"I'm going to show this little picture of yours to the entire academy by today night and trust me, it will spread across the entire state, perhaps even the country in a matter of seconds via internet," Ana says holding up a picture of me in one of my last modeling season, an unprinted magazine that Sydney had told my modeling agent to put off. The only copy of that magazine is in my room.

I gasp as horror fills me from head to toe. "Give me that back!" I say.

"You want it?" Ana teases. "Well promise me that you'll join my committee."

"No!" I say. "Ana give it back!"

"Hey Ana, we're going shopping are you coming?" a low, nasal voice calls from behind Ana.

"Oh hey Stephanie, just the girl I'm looking for," Ana says breaking out in a run towards her snotty friend. "Look at this!"

I run after her, dropping my books. Ana teases me and holds the paper up high where I can't reach it. I can't let her take it. She'll ruin everything that my friends and I have worked hard to build.

"Please Ana stop. I'll do it, but give me the paper back first. I'll do what ever you want," I say as tears start to blur my sight.

Ana laughs coldly. "You think I'm giving you this back? Fat chance kiddo, this is mine till I win."

Something in my snaps and I feel a cold breeze brush past me as I watch my future flash before my eyes. Sydney taken away from California, Adrian hating me forever, Eddie and Angeline being looked down upon by other guardians for what I had done. Knowing that I'm going to regret this, I swing out my arm and punch Ana Dane hard on her face.

"Jill?"

I nearly jump out of my chair and run into Adrian's arms when I hear his voice. I want to tell him everything that had happened and not to hate me but nothing comes out as I open my mouth. Instead, I break into tears. He gently pulls me into his arms and holds me tight. I ignore the strong smell of cigarettes and sniffle as his hand brushes against my cast.

"What happened?" he says. "Who did this to you?"

"Ana Dane and Stephanie," I say.

Adrian pulls away and looks into my eyes. "Why would they do that to you Jill?"

"I might have punched Ana Dane on her nose," I mumble looking away from those once worried eyes.

"Did you break it?" he asks.

"No," I say looking up at Adrian.

Adrian doesn't move away from and doesn't let his arms drop from around me. He sighs and rubs my unhurt arm and looks down at me warmly as we both sit down on the couch.

"Why did you punch Ana Jill? This isn't like you?"

"She broke into my room Adrian, she took my modeling picture and she's blackmailing me. She wants me to help her win Winter Queen and if I don't help her, she's going to show everyone my picture. I was, I was scared Adrian, I didn't know what to do," I sob.

Adrian puts an arm around me. "It's alright Jail-" he starts and suddenly stops breathing.

I look up from his shoulder and watch as Eddie runs into the room with Sydney and Angeline in his shadows. Sydney meets Adrian's eyes and stops running. Her eyes register him with pain, loss and shock. She lets her eyes drift off to the cast on my arm and her eyes widen with horror.

"Jillian!" Eddie says as he runs up to me. "Who did this to you?"

He takes my hand and kneels down on his knees. "Jill talk to me," he says. "Tell me everything and I'll make sure the person who did this to you will pay."

I hand Eddie my referral and watched as his eyes registered the headmaster's straight out angry words all mushed together in one paper. Eddie's eyes grow wide. He lets his eyes leave the paper and looks at me.

"Did you break it?" he asks.

"Oh my gosh!" I yell. "I didn't break her stupid nose!"

Just as we said this, Headmaster Dane walks in and crosses her arms with Ana right behind her. Ana glares across the room at my cast and smirks as she holds a pack of ice to her nose. If only I had broken it. Her blue eyes pierce into mine and I nearly shrink down into my seat, blushing red as a tomato. Eddie grows rigid still and turns around to face the headmaster. The headmaster ignores Eddie and I and looks straight at Sydney with narrowed eyes.

"I thought you teach your family a bit more manners Sydney," the headmaster says. "I never thought that you would teach your sibling to punch a girl, not just any girl, but the headmaster's daughter's!"

"I never thought that someone so respected to be named headmaster would teach your daughter how to break into someone's room and that to dress like she's going to a night club," Adrian says.

The headmaster flushes angrily and Sydney pales until she nearly disappears into the white linen curtains behind her.

"You watch your language young man, my daughter would never do such a thing and she is not dressed as if she's going to a night club!"

"Oh yeah, that's why she's wearing that sh-"

"Adrian!" Sydney snaps.

"You step out of it Sage," he says.

"Both of you stop it!" Eddie says, his hazel eyes blazing angrily as he turns to the headmaster. "I think that it is very unprofessional and unfair for you to be supporting your daughter all the way through without hearing what Jill has to say."

Everyone stops breathing as we watch Eddie in shock. Eddie is never like this. He's usually the calm one who can cool down an angry mob with a word or two. I look up at him and watch as he nods at me. I feel my hands shake in my lap as I turn to look at the headmaster.

"Ana broke into my room and stole something of mine and threatened me that she'll show post it on the internet if I don't join her Winter Committee."

"Outrageous!" the headmaster snaps. "My daughter would never do that! My daughter would never do anything bad like that!"

"Are you kidding me?!" Angeline bursts out. "She's the queen of bad!"

"How dare you!"

"Hello there," a new voice says calmly.

Sydney gasps as she looks up at the lady standing before us. "Miss Terwilliger," she says.

"Jaclyn what are you doing here?" The headmaster snaps.

"I came to see what all this racket is about," she says.

"Well it's quite simple," the headmaster growls. "Jillian punched my daughter on the nose and claims that my daughter is blackmailing her into joining her Winter Committee."

"My, quite an outrageous excuse," Miss Terwilliger says with a hint of sarcasm that only Eddie, Angeline, Sydney, Adrian and I heard. "What happened to your arm dear?"

"Ana and Stephanie broke my arm," I say trying to keep my voice straight but flush as I hear it break.

Eddie reaches out for my hand and pulls me behind his back. I close my eyes and take a deep breath as I lean into his back. He doesn't let his hand go as he glares at the headmaster.

"And what does your daughter and her friend get for that?"

"Nothing of course, it was mere self -defense."

"Jill was protecting herself to," Angeline says standing next to Eddie.

"If she needed to protect herself from a verbal attack, she should have handled it differently."

"Now you're admitting that Ana did do this!" Adrian says.

"I did nothing!" Ana says.

"Ok children and um… miss, calm down. What did you give Jill as punishment?" Miss Terwilliger asks.

"A referall,"

Sydney just realizing this steps out of the shadows. "You cannot do that miss, think about her future."

"You keep your mouth shut Sydney and stay out of it," the headmaster says.

"You watch it old lady," Adrian threatens.

The headmaster flushes and Miss Terwilliger clears her throat. "I agree with Sydney. Since this case is so unclear unlike the others we get, I think we should bring down the bar of punishment. Do you have anything else on you mind miss?"

"In fact I do Jaclyn. If Jillian doesn't want the referral she should join Ana's Committee and actually participate in an activity."

The room grows silent. Eddie looks down at me and then at Sydney who already has her eyes on me. I swallow and nod at Eddie.

"Fine," I say.

The headmaster nods and silently walks out of the room with Ana in her shadows. My knees give in and I fall down onto the couch and cover my face with my hands.

"She isn't going to let this go," I whisper. "Ana is going to hurt me one way or another."

"No," Eddie says. "She won't. I'm going to join this committee of hers with you Jill. I won't let you be alone with her. No one's going to hurt you on my watch."


	7. A New Danger

**Hey guys Purrfictionist here! Here's the new chapter. I tried to come up with a chapter title and I couldn't think of anything good so excuse the boring title for this time! I'm planning to update very soon, possibly even today if, I have time because I want to bring on the chapter about Jill and Sydney's first Christmas together!**

Chapter 6

Sydney Sage

A New Danger

She's asleep," Angeline confirms as she walks out of Jill's room.

Angeline plops down on the couch next to Eddie and hides her face in her hands as she stifles a yawn. Eddie sighs and runs a hand through his hair as he tilts his head up to the ceiling. I, Sydney Sage, have been sent to protect Jill's existence from the human world, and this involves playing her sister. How can I let Jill get hurt like this and call her my sister?

The news isn't only a shock for me. Everyone seems rattled by it. Jillian Mastrano is straight forward the reflection of pure innocence. It's almost impossible to picture her punching Ana in the nose. And now, we all have a new addition to our list of danger.

"I never thought that I'll have to protect Jill from this kind of danger," Eddie says breaking the silence. "It's just ridiculous. Why Jill? Why couldn't Ana pick on someone else?"

"She was jealous."

I look up at Adrian and feel the anger rush back to me from what he had said in the office right in front of the headmaster. It's as if he doesn't realize how much I was doing to protect Jill, to get her to fit in with the people. And the only way to get that to be possible is by being close to the headmaster. After tonight, I highly doubt the headmaster will even look me in the face without scowling at me.

"What do you mean?" Eddie asks.

"I saw it in her aura, she is jealous of Jillian."

"Do you think she wanted to be a model or something? Is she going to use Jill to get to Lia?" Angeline asks. "Jill did mention that Ana has the picture of her latest model session."

"I can read auras not minds," Adrian snaps leaning against the door.

"That there is another issue," Eddie says rubbing his eyes. "We need to boost up the security at all times. Sydney, we're going to need your help to now more than ever. If Ana does anything stupid, the Strigoi will find out."

I nod and shiver as Eddie brings up the blood thirsty vampires. My experience with them was short and pure horrifying.

"Of course," I say.

"I think that we need to get Jill out of here personally. Not just because of Ana, but for everything. She looks like she needs to take a vacation and tomorrow after all is December 21st, we can go to Montana. I'm pretty sure Lissa and Rose would want to join us. It'll be good for Jill to get away from all this undercover business and step into the light for once,"Adrian proposes.

Eddie looks at Adrian nodding approvingly. "Jill does need a break," Eddie agrees. "But how are we going to get a ticket to Montana now?"

"I can pull some strings with my heads and get us and the others tickets," I offer.

Eddie nods. "Could you? I'm starting to ask too much from you these days Sydney,"

I shake my head blushing. "It's my duty," I say giving him a small smile.

Adrian besides me raises his eyebrows. "A duty?" he says.

"Adrian," Eddie says narrowing his eyes at Adrian. "Not now."

Adrian closes his mouth as if he's about to say something but stops himself. I ignore his eyes and feel myself flush. Taking care of Jill is my duty, and it has been for a while now. But why is that now I feel there's another reason why, a reason that's wrong. A reason that shouldn't be there.

"Well I have to go and call the guardians back at Court now and tell them our new situation," Eddie says walking over to the door.

"I should leave to and make all the arrangements with my Head," I say joining Eddie at the door.

"I'm going to go see Jill one last time before I head off," Adrian says turning his back to us.

Eddie and I bid Angeline a good night and walk out of her dorm and into the cold Californian night. We walk down the sidewalk silently and stop at the end of the sidewalk. I meet his eyes that are already on mine and watch as he forces a smile.

"Ignore Adrian," Eddie says eventually. "I know what your beliefs are and that you have to follow them and that's ok to me as long as you don't say anything like that in front of Jill. She really likes you and it'll hurt her if you say that to her."

"I would never say anything like that in front of her or to anyone Eddie," I reassure him.

"I know Sydney, good night," he says.

"Good night Eddie," I say as I watch him walk away.

I start to take a right towards my dorm on the other side of the building when I notice that I left my bag in Angeline's room. I start to turn around when I bump into something strong and warm. I look up into a pair of amused green eyes. I flush and step away from Adrian as he dangles my purse in the air.

"Missing something?" he says.

I snatch it out of his hands. "What the heck were you thinking back in that office talking to the headmaster like that?"

"I told the truth Sage," he says. "Something you have been failing to do for quite a long time now."

I flush. "We all now Ana's a jerk, but we don't go and talk to her mom like that. How am I supposed to talk Angeline out of trouble, and pull Jill out of P.E now? The headmaster will never look me in the eye with a straight face anymore!"

"Then find someone else!" he yells. "Find some other administrator!"

"There is no other administrator here I can talk to Adrian! You messed it all up!"

"Think about this Sydney," he hisses. "Ana attacked Jill for no reason but to pull herself up higher in the academy. Remember what Keith did to your sister? Well he did that so that your sister would quite being an alchemist because she would never be able to work with him as her partner and he got himself to the highest rank and alchemist could get himself to. Your sister was forced into doing something just like Jill is now! And what did you do? You sat still because you didn't want to tell Keith's dad the truth as it would ruin your relationship!"

I stand still and look into those dark green eyes frozen. I feel myself pale and take a step back in pain.

"You're wrong," I whisper as tears rim my eyes. "You don't know why I didn't tell him. You thought I would be afraid to tell Keith's dad the truth? Well you're wrong!"

The tears I had been holding back for a long minute now run down my cheeks and feel icy cold on my cheeks as I wipe them away angrily. I look into those green eyes one last time before I run out away from Adrian and that horrible memory I had been trying to forget for so many years.


	8. Apologies and Gingerbread

**Hey guys Purrfictionist here! Happy New Years! Well New Year's Eve if you're in America **** Well here's another chapter in Sydney's POV again and it's kind of short. It's just for you Sydrian fans. Anywho, I will be catching up with the rest of the holiday celebration as soon as they get to Montana and I might even post the next chapter today before it's 2013 if I have time. Thanks to all my reviewers and followers. I can't name all of them now because I have only a little time to post this chapter but your reviews are appreciated! Read and reply!**

Chapter 7

Sydney Sage

Apologies and Gingerbread

I look at the paper before me frowning. It's incomplete. Since when have my essay's gotten this choppy? I sigh and throw the paper out. I look over at the door where my small, packed suitcase sits with the gray ticket resting on top of it. I fell asleep late last night after an hour of nothing but tissues and tears. I want to be angry at Adrian. I want to yell at him and tell him that Jill is duty and that she'll always be nothing but a duty but I can't. And it hurts that I can't because she's so much like Zoe. She's so much like my little sister.

I push myself off my bed and walk over to my suitcase and take out the picture I have of my family and accidently pull the picture of Clarence and Marcus Finch out as well. I set aside the picture and look at the young man and young Clarence laughing. There's something about the picture that throws me off. Is it the ranch behind them or the name of the road which is barely visible in the corner of the small picture. I shrug and slip both the pictures into my purse.

I slip on my purse and walk over to my bed where the binder I stored all the papers and homework to do during the flight. I pick up the binder and start to head on out towards the door when I hear a loud knock. I look at the door curiously and set my purse and binder aside and pull open the door to let in a tall Moroi. Adrian Ivashkov.

"Adrian?" I whisper. "What are you doing here?"

He looks at me with his emerald green eyes and then out at the gray, cold, winter morning. "Can I come in? It's kind of cold out here and um, sunny."

I flush remembering the fact that Moroi get weakened by the sun. "Of course, come in."

I move aside and let Adrian come into my dorm. I silently close the door and lean against it as I watch him take in my room. I take in his sable brown hair that's window blown and his tall arms that dangle by his side as he smirks amused.

"Your room is empty," he says.

"Yes it is." I say. "Adrian what do you want?"

He sighs and turns around to face me. I feel my heart stop as I take in the purple bags under his eyes and his pale, fallen face that someone would have when they stayed up the entire night god knows doing what. Could it be off the amount of sun he took in?

"Adrian what happened?" I ask him. "Do you want water or something? You look awful! You shouldn't come out like this in the sun at all."

He chuckles as he plops down onto my bed. "Stop worrying about me Sage, it isn't the sun that's got me like this. I just couldn't sleep last night, I'm fine though now. I would like something to drink though would be fine."

I nod immediately and walk over to the mini fridge by the lamp and look at my bottles of beverages. "I got orange juice, apple juice, tropical punch, water and a bottle of mango smoothie."

He frowns. "Good God Sage, fruity much? Got any scotch?"

I narrow my eyes. "Fine, the tropical punch."

"I thought so," I say pulling out my tropical punch I made the other day. I reach over to the cabinet besides the fridge and pull out a cup. "So what's up?" I ask trying not to sound like I cried over what he said to me last night for most of the night.

I hand him the cup and he chugs half the cup down and stops. He pulls the cup away from his mouth and smiles.

"Wow it's good," he says.

"Adrian," I say.

He sighs and looks down into the cup. "I'm sorry alright?" he says. "I shouldn't have said that. I was completely rude, mean, cruel, and to sum it all up, I was a jerk."

I look at him and nod. "I'm the one who should be sorry. You were right," I say sitting on the bed next to him. "I shouldn't have said that to Jill and I deserved your jerkiness. It's just… I can't see her more than a duty and God, you don't know how much I tell myself this daily. I'm afraid that when I get pulled off from Palm Springs, I won't be able to let her go and that they'll find out and…"

"Sydney," Adrian says softly. I look up at him blushing as I hear him use my first name, a thing he did so rarely. "I know. I know how you feel about it, I got it last time. Does it feel right though?"

"You know how it feels and you know that I can't love vampires. It's wrong."

He nods and looks at me. "You know what will settle all this?"

I look at him. "What?"

"A gingerbread man," he says holding out a gingerbread man from the box next to him.

"I am not eating that Adrian, it's packed with sugar. Breakfast is supposed to be healthy, not junky."

"Come on Sage, it's harmless."

"No," I say standing up. "We should go out now and meet the others. We need to start heading over to the airport now to catch our flight."

I grab my purse, binder and suitcase and squeal as an arm shoots out from behind me and slams onto the door. "Adrian! Let go of the door!"

"Eat the gingerbread Sage!"

"No!"

"Eat it," he says warningly looking into my eyes. "Or I might have to do something you'd regret."

I pale. "You wouldn't dare compulse me," I hiss.

'Try me," he growls back.

"Please Adrian," I beg. "It's packed with sugar. It'll make me fat."

"Then let it, you're as thin as a stick," he says.

"Stop lying," I say.

"I'm not," he whispers. "You can't eat grass all day Sage, take a break once in a while."

I frown and look at his hand that's half an inch away from my face and sigh. I grab the cookie and take a small bite of it. He looks at my face patiently and watches it drop.

"It's… good."


	9. A Surprise

**Hey guys! Sorry for the extremely late update. I was going to post the chapter back in the past but I got sick and am still sick so sorry! And you guys know school **** So, enough with the excuses, this chapter's pretty short and the time period is pretty set back. I mean Christmas and New Year was a very long time ago but I'm still catching up **** Don't think the chapters on the vacation are filler chapters because they're pretty important for Sydney. Don't forget to review :D**

Chapter 8

Jillian Mastrano

A Surprise

"Jailbait?" a soft voice whispers. "Jill sweetheart it's time to get up now."

I blink sleepily. "Adrian?" I whisper.

He gives me a small smile and helps me sit up in bed and adjusts the pillows behind my head. I lean against the cold wall of my dorm and take in his expensive silk red shirt and his designer dark jeans. His large warm hand swallows mine as he gives it a small squeeze.

"How are you?" he asks.

I shrug. "Besides the never ending pain in my arm, I'm pretty fine."

"You're lying," he says.

I feel my lip tremble as I look away from those green eyes. "I'm scared Adrian," I whisper.

His smile drops and he leans to turn my face towards his. "Don't be Jill; we're all here for you twenty-four seven. I mean look at Eddie, he's ready to take a bullet for you."

"He's with Angeline all the time," I say.

Adrian looks down at his hands and bites his lip as if he wants to say something but shakes his head instead. "Love hurts huh?" he asks me smirking.

I roll my eyes and slap him on the arm with my good hand grinning. "It sure does," I say sighing. "It sure does."

Eddie Castile

I sigh and look down at my hands. How can I be such a failure? I failed Mason and know, know Jill. I can hear my lawyer's voice echoing in my head over and over again whispering the threat that was killing me inside out.

"_If you fail this Castile, it's over, it's all over. You'll be sent to jail for life and there's nothing your friends can do to bring you out of your sentence, not even the Quean. You got yourself in a deep ditch boy, one that you can't get out of unless you protect Jillian Mastrano. Nothing more than protecting boy you got it? If you try to pull anything…"_

"_I would never sir," I had said. "Duty is duty not a toy."_

_My lawyer nodded. "Good, here's the file."_

_I looked down at the picture of the young princess and feel my heart twitch as I take in the cute big green eyes and the long brown ringlets. This mission would be a lot harder than I thought._

"Eddie?" a familiar voice says.

I look up at Adrian and feel my heart come to a stop as I remember that he can read auras. "Yeah?"

"I just woke up Jailbait, she'll be out soon. Can you tell her about the trip? I kind of have something to take care of." Adrian says. "Sydney's got my keys."

"Ok," I say and watch as he walks out the door.

I watch as he takes a right towards Sydney's dorm and then locked the door. I stuff my hands in the pockets of my jeans and walk back and forth. My head spins with memories of Mason's limp body lying on the cabin floor, I remember Jill lying in my arms staring up at me with lifeless eyes. I stop walking and lean against the wall next to the window and slide down onto the ground. I'm failing as a guardian and a friend. I'm failing so badly. It's my fault Mason died. I should have been stronger but I hadn't been. I had failed him. It's my fault Jill broke her arm. It's my fault that she's suffering both emotionally and physically. And now I'm failing her to.

"Eddie?" a soft voice whispers. "Are you ok?"

I look up at Jill and jump up to my feet. "Yeah, yeah, I was just um, thinking about something."

She nods slowly and stands frozen at the door. I take her small figure in. She's wearing an over-sized tee that went halfway down her thighs with a pair of gray capris. Her long, thick brown hair falls down halfway to her waist; curls at the end. Her pale cheeks are flushed with a beautiful red and she plays with her hands nervously unsure of what to do next.

"I got you doughnuts," I say breaking the silence.

"You did?"

"Yeah," I say pointing to the box by the window. "You dig in, Adrian and the others at already."

She looks at the box hungrily and nods. She walks over to the box and tries to open it with her left hand frowning. I walk up behind her and snake my hand underneath hers freezing as our fingers touch. My neck flushes but I continue to push open the box, ignoring her shifting uneasily in front of me.

"Thanks," she whispers.

"You're welcome," I say stepping back and watch as she pulls out a chocolate doughnut.

A small smile creeps across my face as I watch her hungrily munch on her doughnut unaware of the chocolate on her nose. She looks at me and returns my smile.

"What?" she says.

"You got chocolate on your nose," I say reaching out to brush it off.

She blushes under my touch and rubs at her nose. "So," she says as she looks up at me again. "Adrian said you had something to tell me."

I smile. "Did he know?"

"Well what is it?" she says scooting towards the edge of her seat.

I chuckle at her impatience and pull out an envelope with our tickets and hand it to her. "Take a look at them yourself."

Jill grabs it out of my hands and pulls out the tickets. Her green eyes grow wide as she reads the ticket.

"Montana!" she squeals. "Oh my God are you serious?! I've always wanted to go to Spokane!"

My smile drops and I feel my heart come to a stop. "Spokane?" I whisper.

**Don't forget to review :D I love reviews, they make my day!**


	10. I'm Okay With Spokane

Chapter 9

Sydney Sage

I'm Okay With Spokane

It turns out that Spokane isn't the best vacation spot in Montana. I can't help but feel bad as I watch the gang reunite in the café near the slopes a little too quiet than I had hoped for. I heard that Spokane had very good slopes and from Ian and my sister Zoe that if they wanted to go skiing they would go to Spokane first.

Adrian looks across the table and gives me a small smile and I look down at my coffee dejectedly after failing to return his smile. Why did I have to choose Spokane? Why didn't I do more research into which place is best for our little last minute vacation? I only found out a few hours ago in the airport back at California from Eddie's pale face that Spokane was where the incident with the strigoi and where Mason Ashford had died.

"So," Rose drawls out. "You've been in Spokane before Sydney?"

I look up from my coffee. "I heard about it and that the slopes here are good," I say. " I didn't know…"

"It isn't your fault Sydney," Christian, the Queen's boyfriend, says gently. "You didn't know."

"I should have looked into it," I say. "I always do, it's just that it was so last minute I-"

"I don't mind coming here," Eddie says looking at Christian, Mia and Rose from the corner of our booth. Angeline wraps her arm around his and gently rubs his shoulder. "I think we came here to let go off all the nightmares we had take in the good memories we had here with Mason."

Rose nods. "I think so to," she says snuggling into Dimitri's side. "Besides, the slopes here are good, I can't wait to get on them oh wait are they selling doughnuts here?" she asks looking off at a man walking around with a large tray off doughnuts.

The queen shakes her head at her best friend. "Really Rose doughnuts?"

We all laugh as Rose rolls her eyes and hops out of the booth. "Laugh all you want, I'm starving, do you want a doughnut Sydney?"

Jill snickers next to Eddie and Eddie stifles a smile. I frown at them and shake my head at Rose.

"No thank you," I say.

"Are you sure?" Rose asks.

"I'm good; I had my sugar for the week,"

Rose looks at me amused. "What exactly did you eat?"

"She ate half a gingerbread cookie," Adrian says shaking his head at me a wide smile. "It's basically sugar over dose for our little Alchemist little dhampir."

Rose frowns. "Sugar overdose?" she says with a shocked face. "Sydney Katherine Sage, we are having a very deep conversation about what a sugar over dose when we are alone and by the time we leave Spokane, I'm going to make you eat a doughnut, not even one but two."

"Roza," Dimitri says chuckling at her expression as he hands her some money. "Go get your doughnut."

She grabs his money and stomps away angrily. I turn towards Adrian with a frown plastered on my face to find him laughing. I can't believe he did this. Rose is going to make me eat two doughnuts, two! I'm going to gain so many pounds by the time we go back to California. The thought itself is painful.

"Did you really have to say that?"

"What, I was saying the truth, you called it a sugar over dose," he says.

Lissa looks at Adrian and me silently and goes back to sipping her hot chocolate. "So you must be the famous Sydney Sage. Rose and Sonya babble about you nonstop," she says giving me a smile.

I blush. "Oh, I hope its good stuff your majesty," I say self consciously.

Lissa smiles, "It's Lissa, and of course all good,"

"Why are you so worried? Is there some bad gossip that I'm not aware of?" Adrian asks leaning across the table with an eyebrow raised.

I shake my head blushing even more if possible. "No, no, no, I mean, I don't think there is,"

He chuckles at my expression and nudges his knee against mine under the table. "I'm teasing you Sage," he says softly.

"Does he bother you like this always?" Mia asks.

I nod. "Most of the time,"

Mia gives Adrian a face and he holds his hands up in mock surrender. "Leave the poor girl alone Ivashkov."

I smile as Adrian looks down at his hands "ashamed". Christian rolls his eyes at Adrian and turns to face me.

"Did you ever ski before Sydney?" Christian asks.

"Just once on a trip in Russia," I say.

Dimitri smiles. "You went skiing in Russia? Where?"

"Near Baia actually, I was there before I met Rose," I say remembering my trip with Carly while she was still working for the alchemists.

"I liked skiing there to," he says. "The slopes are much better there."

"You used to ski comrade?" Rose says walking up to us with a doughnut half stuffed in her face. "I thought you were a newbie like Jill."

Jill blushes and Eddie gives her a smile causing Jill to blush more and look down at her hands shyly. Lissa notices this and smiles at her little sister. I feel my heart grow warm as I take in the two. I never had the chance to notice the little sisterly interaction the two had. Jill always seems to think that it's a one way thing but the small little things like Lissa smiling at Jill's little crush that Eddie and many others are completely impervious to show the opposite. These small moments show that Lissa does care.

"Of course I ski Roza," he says. "It's my favorite sport."

"Come on Rose," Christian says rolling his eyes. "Even I knew that."

"Shut it pyro," she says.

Eddie shakes his head at the two of them. "I don't about you guys but I'm going to hit the slopes now," he says helping Angeline up.

"Same here," Lissa says yanking Christian along.

Dimitri rises and grabs Roses hand pulling her away from Christian who was yelling something about failing miserably on a high slope. I bite back a smile and look into Adrian's emerald green eyes.

"Do you want to go now to?" he asks.

"Sure," I say dumping my coffee in a nearby trash can.

I turn around to grab my jacket and can't help but watch as Jill looks off at Eddie and Angeline sadly. I look over at Adrian to see him frowning, already noticing this. He replaces his frown with a wide smile filled with heart warming brotherly affection and reaches out to ruffle Jill's hair.

"You coming Jailbait?" he says.

"You guys go ahead; I want go get something from the cabin."

"We can wait Jill," I say.

She shakes her head. "I'll be fine," she says and heads out the café and towards her cabin.

"Maybe I should go and talk to her," I say to Adrian as I head over to the door that led to the cabins.

He grabs my arm and I turn around to look into those sad green eyes. "Give her a moment."


	11. Skiing

**Hey guys Purrfictionist here! I'm sorry the time period in this story is far back but I'm trying to catch up! Have patience **** I noticed a few errors in the past chapters that I'm planning to correct later in the weekend and I'll mention the changes. Reviews are appreciated!**

Chapter Ten

Jillian Mastrano

Skiing

I stuff my hands in my pockets and walk through the cold winter breeze towards my cabin. He liked me, Eddie had liked me. Sydney even noticed it and had told me herself and I had finally started noticing that gleam in his eyes when he's looking at me and the softness of his voice when he talks to me. But he didn't wait for me. He gave into Angeline, my sister like friend and now, he barely notices me. He even forgot about me back in the café when he had gone off with Angeline. I reach for the golden knob of my cabin and push it open after unlocking it with the key Eddie had given me earlier. I shrug off my boots and walk through Eddie's room that's adjoined with mine and Angeline's. I pull of my jacket and toss it in the chair besides me before I fall onto my bed next to Angeline's. I pull myself up higher onto the large queen bed and pull the covers over my head.

I close my eyes and let out a shaky breath as tears roll down my cheeks. Eddie had left me, and Lissa hadn't even said hi once. I felt her looking at me in the café but that was the closest thing to an interaction we had. Christian on the other hand was excited to see me. He was going on and on about his cooking classes back at his college and all the special treatment he was getting at court by being the queen's girlfriend which earned him a look from Lissa. It was fun talking to him but that had only lasted for a little over ten minutes before he went to go join Lissa in their room to freshen up for lunch. Rose talked to me for a little but most of the times she was busy guarding Lissa and Dimitri was always with Christian. Mia was being oddly quiet and pale ever since she had come to Spokane. I remember Christian talking about how close she and Mason had been. Adrian has been there for me all the time and kept me entertained by pointing out silly things about the waiters and Sydney has been keeping a steady conversation with me to but I didn't want to ruin Adrian and Sydney's day. I could see through the bond, even right now, how excited Adrian is to be alone with Sydney but when I'm around, he's always too concerned about me. I want him to be happy with Sydney.

I feel invisible again, just like I was back earlier this year at court. I feel alone. Sometimes I wish that I never learned that my father is Eric Dragomir. Sometimes I wish that Lissa can hurry up and change the hereditary laws so that I can become the useless little girl I originally was so that I can get my life back.

I hear a door squeak open and soft footsteps make their way into my room, growing louder by the second. I stiffen under the covers and tighten my grasp on my pillow. It can't be them, I tell myself. The sun's still out, the strigoi can't come out yet. The bed suddenly squeaks loudly and the covers around me crumple loudly as someone sits dwon next to me.

"Jill?"

I feel my heart stop as I take in the warm, familiar voice. I quickly dry my eyes and pull the covers off my face to find myself looking into a pair of hazel eyes.

"Eddie?" I whisper blushing. "W-what are you doing here?"

"I didn't see you at the slopes and I got worried that you got lost or something," he says. "Jill were you crying?"

"No," I say a little too quickly.

"You don't need to lie to me Jill," he says. "What's up?"

I blush and look down at my hands. I can't tell him how lonely I feel, he'll get too worried and Eddie's worried already, he's always worried about me. I rake my mind for something believable as I melt under Eddie's concerned gaze.

"I'm just nervous about skiing," I tell him which technically isn't a lie. "I never skied before."

He smiles at me and squeezes my fingertips. "I can teach you," he says.

"You can't do that, you should be with Angeline, it's the only time you get to be alone with her," I tell him shocked by my sad tone.

Eddie though on the other hand is completely impervious to this and shakes his hand. "You always come first Jillian," he says and I can't help but blush again as he calls me by my first name, something he does rarely. "Besides, Angeline's too busy getting Rose and Christian buried in snow."

I giggle and he shakes his head at me. "It's funny," I say. "You have to admit it."

"It really isn't, she should be here with me right now helping me guard you, she seems to forget that at times," he says grimly.

"She's taking a break, we're all on vacation now," I say gently. "Besides, it's pretty useless to have another guardian around when you're always there for me."

Eddie blushes and I feel my heart give a little leap gives me a small smile. I just made him blush.

"Come on," he says holding out his hand. "I'm going to train you to be the best skier ever."

I smile up at him and let him pull me up. He helps me into my jacket and patiently waits for me to slip my boots on. As soon as I'm all warm and cozy again, we head out the cabin and walk right into Mia Rinaldi. Mia looks up at me and Eddie and smiles.

"I was looking for you two everywhere," she says.

"We're just heading out to the training slopes," Eddie says. "I'm teaching Jill how to ski; do you want to tag along with us?"

"Sure," she says smiling at me. She grabs my arm and pulls me away from Eddie before leaning into say, "So how are your _classes_?"

"What classes?" I ask her as Eddie looks over at us curiously.

"Your magic classes and your self defense classes, he is still training you isn't he?" she says frowning as she looks over at Eddie.

Eddie caught the word self defense classes and looks at Mia. "I don't think it's necessary for Jill to have training classes," he says. "Angeline and I are always around her."

I sigh and roll my eyes at him. Why can't he see that I need those classes? What if something happens one day and I'm left alone surrounded by Strigoi or a bunch of goons? What am I supposed to do then?

"Ignore him Mia," I say. "He's being a meanie."

"Jill," he says.

"Eddie," I say mocking his tone.

He shakes his head at me holding back a smile and hands me a pair of skiing sticks. "Let's get you on."

*TIME JUMP*

Two hours later, all three of our legs are sore, and we had gone all the way from the training slopes to the high slopes where Rose and the others were. I never noticed or even thought of the idea of Dimitri Belikov, the God like guardian skiing. I mean he's always so stoic and quiet. He seems more suitable reading a book in the library rather than skiing. But even at skiing, the man is a God but he's nothing like Eddie. Eddie's moves are quick and graceful. His muscles that are always tucked away underneath his shirt seem to flex under his thick jacket as he turns and dodges the pine trees before him.

My first trip down the small slope involved a lot of tumbling and falling which later turned into hard core snowball fights with Mia and I teamed against Eddie. We even bumped into Adrian and Sydney once who were screaming from all the snow being chucked at them. It was cute seeing the soft, boyish nature in Eddie that's always well hidden pop out from that sealed guardian mask Eddie always wears. Even Adrian seemed like a ten year old boy throwing snow balls at Mia, Sydney and I.

"We need to do this more often," Adrian says as we walk up the high steep hill we had skied down. We all agreed to meet back at the café at one and we were practically running with a half an hour to spare. None of us noticed how far we had gotten from the others. "We need the break."

Sydney smiles at him, and I mean she actually smiles at him. It isn't the usual smile she gives him and the others all the time but a true and genuine smile that's getting Adrian tingling all over. Sydney notices me and Adrian looking at her and blushes as she walks up to Mia.

"We should," Eddie agrees. "Mase and I used to come out here all the time during our winter break. Our families were close. Our parents are best friends and so are our siblings. My eldest brother even is married to Mase's sister. I just can't believe that he's gone."

A strange silence fills the air as we listen to Eddie open up about the hole in his heart. I reach out towards him and take his hand. He looks at me a little surprised when I give his hand a squeeze.

"I'll be your best friend now," I say.

"I think I reserved that spot first," Mia says elbowing Eddie's arm.

He chuckles at us two, lightning up a little, and stops walking all of a sudden to look down at his buzzing phone.

"What's wrong?" Adrian asks him sensing a shift in his aura.

"It's Angeline," he says pressing his phone to his ear. "Hey Ange what's up?"

Mia raises her eyebrows at me at Eddie's nickname for Angeline. I shrug and she shakes her head at Eddie smiling.

"You're leaving?"

I stop breathing and look over at Eddie as he frowns. I feel something rustle past me but I ignore the soft, butterfly like touch and look at Eddie intently as he nods at what Angeline's saying on the other line.

"Of course I understand, all right promise me you'll call. I will, I'll tell them, take care Angeline and tell your dad that I hope he gets better," he says before ending the call.

"Angeline's leaving?" I ask. "What happened?"

"Her father wasn't feeling and she said that she's in a cab right now to the airport."

"I hope it isn't anything serious," I whisper.

He shakes his head. "Angeline's dad is a pretty healthy man; I heard a lot about the Keepers from Rose and know for a fact that they're pretty fit. It's probably something small Jill," he says.

I nod and suddenly stopped walking. Eddie stops as soon as he senses my fear and looks over at me. Adrian reaches out to touch my arm and looks down at me with his green eyes.

"What's wrong Jill?" Eddie asks.

"Where's Mia?"

Sydney frowns. "She was right behind a minute ago," she says.

We all turn around to look at the blonde Moroi and find nothing but a bunch of tall pine trees and an endless valley of snow. Eddie reaches and down and grabs something from his boot. My heart pounds against my chest loudly as I take in the dagger. Eddie grabs me by wrist as he looks hesitantly at the woods behind us and then the way up to the cottage and I can tell that he is mentally debating whether or not he should leave Mia and get Adrian, Sydney and I to the cabin or go looking for her.

"Stay right by my side and don't go anywhere," Eddie says in a low, cold voice as he pulls me into the woods after nodding at Adrian who already has a tight grip on pale Sydney's arm.

"Adrian can you see her aura?" Eddie asks.

"I-" Adrian starts to say but is cut off by a loud crack, much similar to the sound of ice breaking.

We stopped walking and I felt Eddie's grasp tighten around my wrist as his large hand swallows mine. Suddenly everything grows quiet. All the birds that were chirping a minute ago stopped singing and the entire forest freezes in time. Suddenly, everything's falling apart and the forest breaks out in a chaos. Birds are crying, sleeping owls were aware and all the other forest animals were screaming and running away in various directions.

"What the," Adrian says.

Suddenly, a high pitched cry breaks out amongst the animals' only this one is human, and feminine. It's Mia.

**Read and review! They make my day!**


	12. Icy Tears

**Ok so it turns out there were some, ok by many grammatical mistakes and I apologize! I just wanted quick updates and didn't care about my grammar much and now I'm regretting that so I'm going back to find my beloved beta! Next chapter will be much more pretty, maybe not plot wise but grammatically wise yes! And this chapter is action packed and is again in Jill's POV. I just love writing her side of the story but no worries, Sydney will have a big say in the story to **

**Shout outs:**

**Mrs. Castile: Thanks for reviewing and by the way, I love your profile! Go Eddie **

**Jyeisoawesome and VigiMathers and bookworm 131998 for following my story! You guys are my first three 2013 followers!**

Chapter Eleven

Jillian Mastrano

Icy Tears

Eddie grabs my wrist and pushes me into the bushes behind me. He looks over at Adrian and Sydney and they follow suite, crouching low in the thorn free cloud of green.

"You have to stay here," Eddie growls. "No matter what you hear, no matter what happens, you guys have to stay here."

"No," I whisper as I grab his hand. "Eddie you need my help, there's water here, I can help you!"

"No Jill, I'm not taking you with me, it's too dangerous," he whispers as he leans down on his knees.

"But you can't take them all by yourself," I say as my eyes burn with tears. "Sydney, Adrian, say something!"

Adrian looks at me with sad green eyes. "There is no other option Jailbait, Eddie's a big boy, he can take care of himself."

Sydney nods and takes her hand in mine. "Eddie is right," she whispers.

I look away from them angrily. How can they say this? How can they all agree to send Eddie out by himself? Eddie reaches out and wipes my tears. He pulls me into his arms and presses his forehead against mine as he strokes my cheeks.

"Don't worry about me Jillian," he whispers softly. "Trust me ok? I won't let anything happen to you or Mia. I'll come back for you I promise."

I nod and bite my lip to hold back a sob. Eddie squeezes my hands one last time and races through the white forest towards Mia's screams. Sydney wraps her arms around me and I lean into her shoulder.

"He's going to come back," she whispers, her voice wavering a little. She reaches out for her Cross with her spare hand. "They both are."

I look out the bush to see the trail of footprints Eddie left and felt my heart tighten. I won't leave him alone, I can't. He'll need my help and he knows it. Adrian meets my eyes and his eyes wander around my aura. He narrows his eyes at me and shakes his head disapprovingly as he reads my mind.

"No Jillian, do not even think about it," he says in a low voice.

Sydney looks over at him shocked at the coldness of his tone and then at me. He knows, he knows what I've set my mind to and that I'm not going to back down on it. He knows that there's no way to stop me now.

"I'm sorry," I whisper as I pull myself out of Sydney's arms. "I have to."

Sydney finally caught onto Adrian and mines silent conversation and shakes her head at me with horror filled eyes. "Jillian get back here now," she says.

"Jill, you need to stay," Adrian says as he looks me in the eyes. Suddenly something soft washes over me and I feel my knees give in as I plop back into the bushes. I gasp in horror as I see what he's doing; he's using compulsion on me. "Jill you know you need to stay with us sweetheart, you have to stay right here with Sydney and me."

Sydney pales and watches as I let out a sob.

"How can you use compulsion on me?" I choke out.

"Jill," Adrian says as he places his hand over mine.

"No!" I yell as I snatch my hand out from underneath his. I push myself up to my feet and jump out of the bush. "Don't you dare stop me now Adrian Ivashkov!"

Sydney jumps to her feet and tries to reach for my arm but it's too late. I break out into a run and push myself deeper and deeper into the snowy white forest. I hear Adrian screaming for me and I look over at my shoulder to see them running after me. I turn back to face the front and follow Eddie's footsteps that line up into a straight line leading to a field of untouched snow. My breaths come out short and fast as I pick up the pace. I can't let them catch me, I can't. After ten minutes of running, my sides start to burn and sweat starts to trickle down my neck, underneath my heavy snow suit. To make matters worse, Eddie's footprints are starting to disappear as I walk further and further into the treeless field of snow.

Shocked at the sight before me, I start to run again and feel my heart skips a beat as Eddie's footprints vanish.

I look around the forest and pale. How can this be? Where is he? He has to be here, how can his footsteps just disappear like that? That's when I see a small figure standing off in the distance of the field, a small familiar, petite figure and behind her are four other men with blood red eyes. Mia, oh my God it's Mia. And where's Eddie? Is he…?

My heart comes to a stop as I stumble back into the tree behind me. A hand suddenly snatches out from behind the tree and pulls me back into the shadows of the large Pine. I struggle in the man's grasp but he soon overpowers me and ends up pushing me against the tree face front so that my back is towards him. I give up in the man's grasp and start to sob as I look up at the clear blue sky. Please God, please if you're there let me live. I can't die yet, oh Eddie where are you?

"Let me go!" I manage to hiss through my sobs. "Please let me go."

"Calm down," a familiar voice snaps as he loosens his grasp on me. "It's me, Eddie."

I let out a gasp and turn around on my heels to throw my arms around his neck. "I thought they had taken you," I whisper.

He pushes me off of him. "Why didn't you stay back with Adrian and Sydney? Why didn't you listen to me?" he whispers angrily.

"I-I wanted to help Eddie," I say. "I didn't want you to leave alone."

"Why don't you trust me? Do you think I'm that weak?" he hisses. "God Jill, what am I going to do now?"

I blush and feel tears spring in my eyes at his cold tone. He was never this cold and mean towards me and it hurts more than having a dagger through your heart.

"I'm sorry Eddie, I just wanted to help."

"Well you didn't alright?! You just made everything worse, how am I supposed to guard you and cross the lake to get Mia huh?"

I blush and look down at my feet so that he can't see me crying.

"I-I can break the lake," I mumble.

Eddie stops pacing and looks at me. "You'd need water, the lake is frozen,"

"You just need to make a small hole or something; I can reach the water from the hole and make a wave."

He groans and leans against the Pine agonized. "It's too risky; the Strigoi will probably just pull her out."

"Mia can fight back, she'll get the message when I make the wave, and after all, she's the one who taught me the move."

Eddie looks at Mia and sighs. "Fine, stay here, I'll go make a hole."

I nod and watch as he sneaks closer to the lake with his stake in his hand. As soon as his back is towards me, I dry my eyes and rub my face of all evidence of crying and watch as Eddie carves a circle into the lake. He steps back and pokes the large circular plank of ice and watches as it pops up from the water. He silently kicks it aside and nods at me.

I close my eyes and reach my hands out towards the water. A warm feeling runs up my arms and I let out a sigh as I push my hands up. The nice, tingling feeling elevates as I push higher and then back down and then higher again and then back down. Finally when my entire body is heated up with my magic's strength, I push the water up one last time as high as I can and then push it down with the twice the force I've ever mastered before. The ice breaks loudly which catches the attention of the Strigoi and Mia. As the crack meets the crack near where Mia's standing, the ice splits in an ear piercing sound and a huge wave of water gushes out. From across the ice, Mia meets my eyes and nods silently as she caught onto what our plan was.

Come on Mia, I think. It's now or never.

Third POV

Mia Rinaldi catches the familiar green eyes of Jillian. The Strigoi holding Mia growl angrily as the water washes up to their waists. This is a distraction that they do not need. Mia takes advantage of their frustration and kicks her leg back at the Strigoi holding her. The three other Strigoi start to reach for her but Mia's prepared and is on the top of her toes. She raises her hand and grabs a heavy load of water and pushes the three back leaving her and the wounded Strigoi on the other end of the still standing ice.

The Strigoi growls and manages to push himself up to his feet as he lets his eyes take in his friends on the other side of the wave and then Mia. "You are being foolish blonde," he hisses as he narrows his blood red eyes. He limps towards her and grabs her by her hair. Mia's grasp on the wave falters and one of the three Strigoi grabs onto her floating ice plank and tries to hoist himself up onto it. "You are dead."

Mia watches in horror as the Strigoi's fangs near her throat. She looks over on the other side of the ice to see Eddie racing across the bridge of ice Jill's holding together with the water on the other end of the lake. It'll take at least a minute for Eddie to come and save her; he'll be 59 seconds short. Mia looks at the Strigoi as he closes his mouth in on her throat and does the most stupid thing ever. She breaks the ice and breaks her wave.

The four Strigoi howls angrily as the five of them fall into the icy cold lake. Mia closes her eyes and lets the water raise up over her head as her legs start to grow unnaturally still. She pushes her hands out and tries to move the water around her but her hands seem to be too cold and still to do anything. She feels her tears on her cheeks slowly raise up to the top of the lake that's getting farther and farther away as she sinks towards the bottom of the very deep lake. Her lungs ache from the lack of air and her heart beats painfully slow as her eyes start to flutter close. The Strigoi push them up to the surface easily and seem to have forgotten about Mia. Suddenly, a hand reaches out from the growing darkness and motions for Mia to reach out for it. Mia stretches her hand weakly and feels familiar, long calloused fingers squeeze hers gently as they drag her up to the surface. Strong arms wrap around her small, fragile body and pull her onto land and she feels her body shake as the man sets her down gently.

Mia starts gagging and gasping for air as she falls onto her palms. She clutches her side and tries to bite her lip to keep her from shivering. She ends up curling against the large Pine she was set besides and looks around herself to see that she's no longer near the lake but back in the forest on the other side of the lake that's free of all the Strigoi whom had attacked her. How did she get here?

Something moves besides her and Mia gasps. The man, she thinks as she looks up into a pair of red blood eyes. Mia pales and pushes herself into the trees.

"No," she whispers. "No, no this can't be."

The Strigoi looks into her eyes painfully and starts to reach for her but stops frozen halfway. He looks over his shoulder and glances back down at her one last time before racing into the forest.

"Mia?" someone calls. "Mia?!"

Eddie pops out from behind the tree in front of her and drops down on his knees before her. He quickly shrugs out of his jacket and wraps it around Mia's shaking body.

"Shh, Mia, it's ok, I'm here, everything's going to be ok" he whispers as he tightens his grasp on his stake.

"No," Mia whispers as she looks down the forest where the Strigoi who had saved her life ran off to. "Nothing will ever be ok again; nothing will be ever the same from on today."

**Well what did you think about Jill pulling off that little stunt and Eddie's rashness? And who do you think Mia saw or was she just hallucinating? Read and Review! They make my day!**


	13. I'm Scared

**Hey guys Purrfictionist here! Yep, I know, I know, this chapter is small but it has Sydrian to make up for it! I'll try to update again tonight! I love Spring Break, or at least so far. My opinion might change once I start to studying for my AP exam **** Anywho, ****read and review****!**

**Shout Outs:**

**Mrs. Castile: Hmm… did she see Mason? ;)**

**Mrs. Ivashkov4Eva: Awww! Thanks so much!**

**Thanks for following my stories! You know who you are and to my new followers post chapter Eleven, thank you Mrs. Ivashkov4Eva**

**~ Sorry if I missed anyone! **

Chapter Twelve

Sydney Sage

I'm Scared

I sit in the empty café and silently sip my coffee. It's one in the morning. I should be in bed by now but I can't pull myself into the cabin without thinking about how monstrous they are. Why am I like this? I know Rose and the queen don't have any plans to attack humans overnight to drink their blood. Rose doesn't even drink blood so why am I thinking like this? Maybe it's Mia on the bed besides mine who's constantly moaning "No, no please no, don't kill me." Maybe it's her constant sobs and nightmares that are making me so edgy. Or it's the fact that I can't close my eyes without seeing those Strigoi's blood red eyes.

Sighing I push myself off my booth and drag myself to the bar to order another coffee. The man who already has my order memorized takes my cup and goes to refill it with a small smile on his face. I stuff my hands in my pockets and lean against the bar, taking comfort in the smell of the strong coffee.

"Sage?" a soft voice whispers.

I turn around and come face to face with Adrian. My heart starts racing and I feel my hands shaking in my pockets. We haven't talked all day since Dimitri found us in the forest. It's like we've been avoiding each other. Adrian had gone off to his room with no word to anyone and I had done the same. I don't want to admit but I don't feel safe around here without him, not even with Rose or Dimitri. I look into Adrian's eyes and blush under his fingers as he brushes away a tear that I haven't noticed before.

"Oh Sydney," he whispers as he pulls me into his arms.

I wrap my arms around his waist and ignore the strong smell of tobacco. I feel my body shaking in his arms and he tightens his hold on me. I watch as one of his arm drops from my side and into his pockets. He pulls something out and places it in the bar before he reaches out for something. He then pulls me towards my booth in the corner of the café and helps me down. I cover my face in my hands as he slides in next to me and hands me a tissue.

I blow my nose with the tissue and dry my face with the sleeves of my jacket. "I'm sorry," I whisper. "I didn't mean for that to happen."

"It's ok to be scared Sydney," he tells me.

I nod slowly and watch as he pushes my cup of coffee towards me. "You paid for it," I say. "You shouldn't have done that, I have money."

"Don't worry about it Sage," he says as I chug down a fourth of the coffee in the hot Styrofoam cup. "I'm pretty sure that drinking coffee at one in the morning isn't the best thing to do."

"I don't want to sleep."

We sit silently as we take in my admission. After a nerve wrecking long minute, I look away from those warm green eyes and start to play with my fingers on the table. A moment later I feel something warm wrap around my waist and I blush. Adrian tightens his grip around my waist and pulls me into his lap. His long, artistic hands do miracles on my shoulders as he massages them gently.

"Close your eyes Sydney, I'll keep you safe," he whispers in my ear as he presses a kiss on my cheek. I don't stop him as he presses another one on my neck. I let my eyes flutter close as he buries his face in my neck whispering sweet nothings that set my heart on fire. I don't care if the waiter behind the bar is watching the two of us or if anyone walks in the door. All I can think about is how right this feels and how safe I feel in the arms of a monster. "I promise you."

"I'm scared, I'm scared that they'll come for me," I tell him.

"Don't be," he growls. "I'll keep them away from you."

"Don't leave," I whisper.

"Never."

~8~

The next morning, I wake up to the sound of a door banging loudly. I gasp and sit up straight in my bed. I look around to see that I'm in my cabin. Mia's bed is empty and elegantly made. The door to my room is open and I hear someone moving around noisily. How did I get here? Was yesterday night a dream?

"Hey there sleep head," Rose says peeking into my room.

I lean against the headboard and rub my eyes. "H-how did I get here? I remember that I was in th café yesterday night."

"You were," Rose says as she sits down in my bed. "You fell asleep there and Adrian brought you here."

"Oh,"

"Yep, you should get ready quickly, Christian's making breakfast today and trust me you don't want to miss out on his food."

I shake my head at her as I slip out of bed. "You never stop thinking about food do you?"

"If I could, I'd marry it but sadly," she says looking at the door with a small smile. "I'm taken."


	14. Broken

**Hey guys Purrfictionist here! So you'll probably hate me by the end of this chapter but I have my reasons! And keep in mind that I thought of this story before The Indigo Spell came out so my view on the characters newly introduced in The Indigo Spell might be different from how you view it. TIS though was awesome but the cliff hanger at the end made me run around in my room screaming. Anywho, read and review! **

**Shout outs**

**Mrs. Castile: Go Sydrian! I think I might lose it if there's a love triangle in The Fiery Heart. **

**Mouse42069: Thank you for your review! I hope this chapter doesn't make you hate me! I had to do what I did! And these answers will eventually be answered but not quite yet. I think this might be a long FanFic so hang on for a wild ride **

**Thanks for favoriting my story 0opsz**

**~Sorry if I missed anyone but do know I love your reviews and that you are following and or have favorited my story! **

Chapter Thirteen

Sydney Sage

Broken

Rose left me after a while and let me get ready. I took a quick shower, brushed my teeth, dried my hair and slipped on some khakis and a long sleeved white turtle neck that'll keep me warm with my snow jacket. I stare at my reflection in the tall mirror that hangs from room's door and fall onto the bed.

Yesterday night seems like a blur, almost like a dream. How could I have let him touch me like that? How did I let him hold me like that and kiss me? And why in the world did I enjoy it? I had told him that day in his apartment that it was over, that there can never be an _us_. A Moroi, and not just any Moroi, but a royal Moroi and an Alchemist can never be. What if someone saw us back in the café? What if someone had told Stanton or my father? They can be here any minute, all armed and ready to take me away because I'm falling in love with Adrian. My heart stops as I take in what's happening. I'm falling in love with Adrian.

A loud knock interrupts my thoughts. "Sage, you ok in there? It's been like an hour and all the foods being wiped out. I saved you some food though just in case Rose decides to swallow the kitchen whole by the time we get back."

My eyes fill up with tears as I lean against the wooden door that's separating me and Adrian. _I have to do this,_ I tell myself. _I have to._ _It's for his good, and it's for my good. We can never be. They'll find me. _I take a deep breath and I open the door. There standing in the cold winter breeze is Adrian with a huge smile on his face. He never smiles this big. I can't do this.

I push past him and make my way towards the Queen's large cabin hoping that Adrian will ignore me. Maybe he'll see that I don't want to talk. Maybe his phone will ring and he'll go away but of course none of that happens. Adrian runs over to me and grabs me by my hand. His hand, large and warm, easily swallows mine and his long, artist fingers rub knee weakening circles into my palm. I pull my hand back and wrap my arms around myself as I try to walk around him.

"Just go Adrian, please," I whisper as I swallow back the tears in my eyes.

He reaches out for my hand and changes his mind halfway and grabs me by arm instead. He slowly turns me around and I bite the inside of my lip to keep myself from crying like I had yesterday night.

"Sydney, what's wrong?" he whispers. "It's alright sweetheart, you can tell me anything."

"Please go," I try again. "Please, I'm begging you Adrian."

"No," he tells me. "Not unless you tell me what's wrong Sydney. Please sweetheart, I'll make everything ok again alright? Just tell me what's on your mind."

"Yesterday night," I manage to croak out. "Yesterday night was wrong."

His grip on my arm loosens and he takes a step back as if I just punched him in the gut.

"That shouldn't have happened ok, and you know that, you shouldn't have touched me like that!"

"Sydney, you were so scared, I was just trying to help," he whispers. "Please Sydney, I'm sorry ok, just don't… "

"Don't what?" I ask him.

"Don't leave me again," he whispers and this time, it's him who's looking down at the ground.

My heart stops beating and my hands start to shake as I blink back my tears. "We're not right Adrian, I told you that before."

"You felt it to, you wanted me Sydney and you know that," he says as his eyes snap back at me. His eyes aren't full of that pain and loss that had been there the first day I told him this. This time, there's rage and pure hot anger.

"I felt nothing," I lie.

"How can you lie to yourself Sydney?"

"I'm not lying to myself," I say, raising my voice a little. "Try and understand that. Just because you love me doesn't mean I have to love you back. There was nothing ever between us! And if you can't understand that, if you're so immature to not see the truth between all of this, then you're blind Adrian! Open your eyes for once!"

Adrian looks back at me with a pale face. His long arms hang loose by his side and I can see through his eyes that I just went somewhere where I shouldn't have gone. I can see through that pained look on his face that he might never ever forgive me.

"Hey, is everything alright back here?" Rose says peeking out the cabin door.

"Yeah," Adrian says gruffly. "Why wouldn't it be?"

And with that he walks away from the cabin and heads off down the hill to the large main cabin that held the café, arcade, and bar. I watch him leave and silently and walk into the cabin. I take a deep breath and quickly wipe away my tears that I have been holding back since Adrian showed up. Rose locks the door slowly and turns around to face me.

"Are you ok?" she whispers. "You look like you got run over by a bull dozer."

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Well come on in then, there's still some food left, Adrian left a plate for you somewhere and the coffee he got you is still hot."

"He got me coffee?" I whisper.

"Yeah," she says as she leads me through the crowded kitchen and into the small, empty living room. There on the shiny, wooden table is a plate full of fruit all laid out like a smiley face and a small stack of pancakes. Next to the plate is a huge cup of coffee in a Styrofoam labeled SAGE'S COFFEE in his spirally, yet neat handwriting. I take a sip of the coffee and feel a fresh batch of tears fill my eyes. He got everything right. "Are you really going to eat all that fruit?"

I nod and force a smile. "Yeah why? You want some?"

"God no, I was just asking," she says laughing. "Do you want to join us? Eddie's here, I think Mia's with Jill back at Jill's cabin."

"I'll um eat here, my head's kind of hurting."

"Oh ok," she says and squeezes my shoulder. "If you need anything, we'll be a room away."

I nod and watch her leave. I walk over to the couch with my plate of food and coffee and sit down. I set the coffee aside and pull the plate of food onto my lap. I lean back into the pillows and look into the smiley face Adrian had made for me. I take an apple of the plate and try to chew on the nice soft, fluffy and juicy slice when the tears start to race down my cheeks. I'm not loud like yesterday; these sobs are quiet and silent and twice as painful.

Suddenly my phone starts to buzz loudly in my khakis. I dry my tears and quickly blow my nose with a tissue before pushing my old, nineties flip phone out of my pants. I flip it open and press the cell to my ear.

"Sydney Sage speaking," I say.

"Ah, Miss Sage," a man says. "What a convenience. I was afraid that Princess Dragomir would pick up again."

I stop breathing. How does he know Jill? "Who are you?"

"My, my, don't go so edgy darling."

"Answer my question now," I say.

He chuckles. "My name is Marcus Finch Miss Sage and I've heard that you've been looking for me. I thought I'd help you out and arrange a little meeting, just the two of us."

It's Marcus. How did he get my number? "I'm not at home,"

"Oh I know Miss Sage; you're in Spokane, the very same city I have been residing in for the past few years. What a coincidence huh? Anyway, what do you think about dinner darling?"

**Review! And look who decided to pop up in the story! The much awaited Marcus Finch. Did I do his tone right? I'm trying! **


	15. Dinner Disaster

**So originally this was going to be two chapters but I combined them into one. Sorry ahead of time for any mistakes, it's really late at night and my brain's half shut down. Anyway, don't hate me at the end of this chapter. Things have to happen for the plot to build! **

**And yay! I finally have more reviews than how many chapters I have! Let's keep it that way! And yes, there will be Sydrian in the upcoming chapters. I think this is going to be a long fanfic. Thanks for those who reviewed, followed, and favorited! I usually would say your name and all but I don't have time tonight.**

**Disclaimer: I'm not Richelle sadly but I do own the plot!**

Chapter Fourteen

Dinner Disaster

Rose Hathaway helps clean up in the kitchen silently next to Lissa as the gang clears out. Christian looks over at the new, quiet Rose and can't help but frown.

"What's up Hathaway, why are you so quiet?"

"Why do you care Sparky, I thought you always wanted this," Rose snaps back.

Lissa sighs and takes the plate from Rose's hand before it ends up in pieces before her boyfriend. She had a feeling that they'll be arguing again. True, it's odd that Rose is so quiet but she probably has her reasons. After her long years as Rose's best friend, she knows that Rose always opens up when she's ready to.

"Oh trust me, I do appreciate the quietness, I just keep getting this weird feeling that you're doing something to my kitchen," Christian says standing up.

Lissa walks over and wraps her arms around Christian's waist. "Let it go you two, we're on vacation," she says. "Come on Christian, let's go out on the slopes for a while and talk about our plan for the day."

Rose mutters something unholy as she reaches over for her jacket and stops moving when Lissa touches her arm gently.

"Go find Dimitri and take a day off Rose, I'll have my other guardians come with me ok?"

"Are you sure?"

"I'm positive; now go get some air,"

"Yeah right, _that's _what they're going to do," Christian says rolling his eyes.

Rose growls and clenches her hands by her sides. Why does he have to be so annoying? "You might want to control your boyfriend Lissa because in a minute, he won't be able to look at himself in the mirror ever again."

Lissa does just that and pulls her boyfriend out the cabin, ignoring his protests. Rose watches the two head on over to the slopes with Lissa's guardians and soon walks out the cabin in search for Dimitri. He had said that he was going out for a walk a while ago and still had returned. Rose knows that she shouldn't be worried but she can't help it, it is part of her nature now. Suddenly, strong arms wrap around her waist and she lets her captor pull her behind the cabin into the woods.

"Roza," he whispers. "Where is Lissa, why are you not with her?"

She smiles and turns around. "She gave me and you a day off."

He leans his forehead against her and reaches out for her hands. "Come on then, I want to show you something I found while I was walking."

She nods and lets him lead her into the woods. They walk silently as he holds her close with an arm around her waist and her head tucked under his chin. Rose remembers when he left for college with Christian and the days she slept counting the seconds of until she'd see him again. And then when he finally came back, she had only a day with him before he was sent out to Palm Springs. They both know that their relationship would be a rocky one but neither one of them are planning to let go of each other now or later. They went through way too much to let go now.

And when she learned that she'd finally get to see him for more than one day, she was so excited. She talked about this day nonstop and she was pretty sure that she had drove Lissa crazy and it was when she found out that of all the places they were to meet, they were going to meet in Spokane she didn't want to go. Lissa had said that she could stay behind. She knew what that place meant for her. The only reason she came was because she wanted to see Dimitri.

Rose leans into his side and takes comfort in her boyfriend's warmth. It's then when she realizes that he's wearing his duster. She looks up at him and starts to say something to distract herself from all of her depressing thoughts and is surprised when Dimitri stops walking.

"We're here?" she asks.

"No Roza,"

"Oh, why did we stop then?"

"I wanted to ask you what's wrong; you look very worried and concerned Rose."

Rose sighs and sits down on the log before her. Dimitri walks over and pulls her into his arms and she rests her head on his shoulder as he takes a seat next to her.

"I guess you can say I'm worried," she says. "This morning when I saw Sydney, she looked torn, like something in her snapped and then when I saw Adrian he was… off. I don't know if it's spirit or what. I just don't understand what's happening though! I can't see the connection between Sydney and Adrian."

Dimitri bites his lip and holds back a smile at the thought of the two. He wants to tell his Rose what exactly he and Sonya had seen in them back in Palm Springs but decides not to. Time will tell all and it isn't right for him to tell her. What Rose tells him though gets him a little worried to. Even though Adrian had been Rose's boyfriend, Dimitri still thinks that the young Royal has a lot of potential. Dimitri also knows that it's Sydney who makes him feel whole in a way that Rose never had. Sydney Sage though was a total mystery to Dimitri. During his time in Palm Springs, he had seen a fire in her, a fire that he can't seem to understand.

"Dimitri?" Rose calls.

"Yes Roza?" he asks.

"Can you do me a favor?"

"Anything for you Rose,"

She grins up at him. "You need to take Adrian out for dinner."

Chapter Fifteen

Adrian sits in the bar and watches as Dimitri takes a seat next to him. Adrian feels anger rush over him and clenches his fist. Why can't he leave him alone? Why is the Russian doing this to him? He waves over a hand and orders a drink.

Dimitri sighs. "I thought you dropped the drinking," he says.

"Why do you even care?" Adrian snaps loudly. A few people stop to stare at them as they make their way to their tables. "Just leave me alone!"

"Adrian," Dimitri hisses. "You are making a scene."

Adrian jumps up from his seat and grabs the drink the waiter hands him. "Get this Belikov, I don't care if Rose set you up for this, I don't give a crap. I don't care what you are getting for this. You can either leave or I will go."

Dimitri sighs. How did he even try to agree to do something like this? Dimitri knew he shouldn't have even tried something like this when Adrian's angry and ticked off.

"Adrian, you're angry. For what I don't know but you need to tell someone, you need to cool down," Dimitri says as he grabs Adrian by the arm to hold him in place.

Adrian pulls his arm free and turns around to the face the door of the fancy restaurant. "Good b-" he says, try to make his escape from Dimitri, but stops midsentence as he takes in a familiar golden aura walk into the restaurant. Dimitri follows his eyes and feels his heart sink a little as he takes in Sydney Sage. So this is why he's angry.

Adrian feels his heart come to a stop as he takes her in. She's wearing a dress, a pitch black dress with long sleeves that hang loose by her wrists. Her dress hugs her perfectly in the right places and it goes down to her knees. She's wearing a pair of sandals that have at least two inches of height and her golden lily is covered up. Her long beautiful hair is tied up by a loose bun on her side and a blush covers her soft cheeks._ She's so beautiful_, he thinks. Adrian's heart grows heavy with pain as he watches her walk in but what hurts the most is watching the boy next to her drape his arms around her shoulders.

Sydney POV

Marcus Finch is obviously a wealthy man. His suit has to cost him an outrageous amount of money, his hair is gelled back neatly and professionally, and his watch might even cost more than his suit. And I have to admit, he's pretty good looking. He has shiny blonde hair and a striking pair of blue eyes that can make any girl swoon but I prefer green eyes. My heart comes to a stop as I watch him walk onto the curb of the sidewalk that's adjacent to the restaurant. What am I thinking? It's over Sydney, there is no more Adrian remember? Now forget!

Marcus grins at me as he holds out his hand. "Hello there Miss Sage," he says.

I nod grimly. "Call me Sydney,"

"Well Sydney, you do look quite stunning tonight," he says. "Are you always like this or did Clarence get you to impress me?"

I blush. Is he flirting with me? "Let's get to business Mr. Finch," I say and walk to the door and start to pull it open when Marcus catches it first and holds it for me. I let out a mental sigh as I catch him winking at me. This night is going to be a lot tougher than I thought.

He smiles as he drapes an arm around me while we walk into the restaurant. I feel myself turn even redder as he leads me over to the waitress at the front desk.

"William Carstairs, I made a reservation for two earlier today?" he says.

The waitress blushes and nods flustered. "Yes sir, right this way Mr. Carstairs," she says.

Marcus holds out his hand for me to go first and I follow the tall, red headed waitress to the very end of the restaurant. I take a seat on the opposite side of the table from where Marcus is sitting and look around the dim lighted restaurant. He managed to reserve the most private table in the entire restaurant and the restaurant to is very expensive and posh. There is a huge bar in the far end of the restaurant and is packed with people and a huge dance floor sits in the middle. Glass tables, big and small, surround the dance floor, many of which are already occupied.

"I must say Sydney, you are very professional, the alchemists did a good a job with you," he says as he takes a sip of his water.

I turn around to face him and nod grimly. "I guess they did," I say. "Look Marcus, I can't be here for long and I need answers. I need to know how you know the Dragomir Princess is in Spokane."

He stops drinking his water. "I have my sources," he says.

I narrow my eyes. "I'm not playing games Marcus," I say.

He chuckles and leans closer towards me and I shift back in my seat uncomfortably. "Neither am I Sydney. I can be serious if I want to and right now, I am."

"Answer my question," I say again.

He raises an eyebrow. "Let's just say I know a lot about you Sydney. I know Carly, in fact I met her once. I know your mother, I know her little secret, I know your little secret and if you ask which one, I'm pretty sure I know all of them. I know your little sister and I must say, Jared's training her pretty good. Her name is Zoe isn't it? To be honest, I think Jared's losing trust in you Sydney," he says. "He's been going through your stuff back home in Utah and your mother knows nothing of it. She's too busy wondering if she should paint her house green or that light brown color."

I pale and stand up from the table. "H-how do you know all that?" I whisper. My mother called just two days ago telling me about the house painting project. Did he listen to my call? If he knows all this, what does he know of Jill?

"As I said, I have my sources," he says.

"Sources?!" I cry. "What sources? How do you all of that about my family, how do you know my dad's going through my stuff, what do you know about Jill?"

He gives me a smile and starts to reach for my arm to pull me back to my seat but I take a step back and walk into something hard. I turn around and find myself looking into a pair of fiery emerald eyes.

"Who are you?" Adrian demands.

Oh no.

"What are you doing to her? Did you touch her?" Adrian growls.

"I shook her hand," Marcus says casually. "And I gave her a little hug. Why does that bother you?"

"Leave," Adrian hisses.

I stop still as I take in the smell of alcohol surrounding Adrian. He's drunk and he's angry. I take a hold of Adrian's arm and pull him back.

"Adrian, please go," I beg and find myself hopeless.

"I think I'm going to stay here, I'm pretty sure Sydney wants me to," he says and grins as Adrian's face pales. "Oh, I see, she wanted to have dinner with me over you huh? Sorry about that man but I couldn't help myself. I heard a lot about Miss Sage here and wanted to meet her in person."

What is Marcus trying to pull? The only thing he's doing is getting Adrian angrier. I look around for someone to help me and find Dimitri walking up to me with a dark look on his face. He takes a hold of Adrian's arms and starts to pull him back but his grip isn't strong enough. He underestimated Adrian's strength. Adrian breaks free and lunges for Marcus and pushes him back to the table. A waitress screams as Marcus punches Adrian hard on the face. Dimitri looks shocked and jumps into action as he tries to pull the boys off of each other. Adrian hisses in anger as blood trickles down his nose. He ignores the blood and knees Marcus hard on his chest and dives in for another punch.

I pull on Adrian's arms as Dimitri holds Marcus down.

"Stop it!" he yells as people start to crowd around us. "Both of you!"

Marcus lets out a laugh. "What's wrong, afraid pretty boy's going to get hurt?"

Adrian growls and tries to break free of me. "Let me go Sydney!" he yells.

Marcus glares at Adrian and finally pushes himself off of Dimitri. Dimitri watches him with a hawk eye as he grabs for his jacket and my heart sinks in despair. "The meeting is over Sydney, I'm leaving. Goodbye Sydney" he says.

I drop my hands from Adrian's arms and watch him as he heads for the door. I try to run after him but Adrian pulls me back.

"No," I whisper and try to break free of Adrian's grasp. "Let me go Adrian!" I scream but it's too late.

The loud purr of Marcus's car ignition fills the silent restaurant with an echoing roar and his bright head lights disappear as he drives off into the dark night.

I turn and look up at Adrian. "Are you happy now?" I yell as I pull my arm free. Adrian looks down at me with sad and pained eyes, completely oblivious to his bloody nose and the purple bruise on his neck. "I just lost Marcus! And know I'll never know how he knows Jill or my family! I just lost the key to all the answers Adrian and it's all because of you!"

"Sydney," he whispers as he tries to reach for me. "I thought he was hurting you, I didn't know… I wasn't thinking Sage."

My eyes burn with tears and I turn around so I won't have to look into his sorrow filled eyes. I know it wasn't entirely his fault and that Marcus shouldn't have led him on like that but I can't help get angry at Adrian. He's the one who started. He was the one who was drunk, he was the one who threw the first punch and he was the one who disappointed me.

And so I can't help but say,

"You never do Adrian, you never think about what you are going to do, you just do it, and now you've ruined everything," and with that I grab my purse and run out of the restaurant ignoring the curious eyes of the other tourists.

**Wooh! Drama! I know, another fight?! But this is the way the story goes. Sorry! Or should I say **_**I'm Sorry**_**. See what I did there? Anywho, if it makes you feel better, drama brings romance. Do you think that Adrian had only one motive to attack Marcus or was there something else that was bothering him?**

**Also, I planned this story before Marcus was fully introduced in the series so my view is probably a lot different from yours so I guess you immediately expect his character to be OOC.**

**Next chapter should be in Jill's POV and we'll see what happens between her and Eddie. Also, I started a blog. Purrfictionist360 . You can find extras on my fanfics, deleted stuff, summary of the upcoming chapters and etc. Book reviews and writing tips as well! I didn't get to update the summary section but I will do that this Friday so check it back then! And check out my one shots I'm writing. Leave a prompt and review!**

**Review and I hope you enjoyed!**


	16. Christmas Shopping Part One

**Yay! Summer's finally here so I'm hoping for more updates. For those who probably hate me about tearing Adrian's heart twice in a row, this chapter should make you much happier! I wanted this chapter to be all about the Christmas Shopping and the time the gang spends at the mall but I realized halfway through that the trip is much longer than I expected it to be so I broke it up in two parts. It's ridiculously late at night now or I guess you can now say early morning so if you find any mistakes, please tell me so! There's another author's note at the bottom.**

**Read and review!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Richelle's awesome characters but I do own my plot!**

Chapter Sixteen

Christmas Shopping Part One

Sydney POV

My mother always told me to hang on to what I have now because I might not have it tomorrow. I never took that seriously. I have always wanted more, things that I am not capable of. I can't be thin and beautiful like Jill and Lissa, I can't be as talented as Adrian, and I can't be as strong as Rose. I'll never be like them but I can do with what I am and what I have.

Yesterday night, I lost what felt like everything. There's this random man, a very good looking man, who knows Jill. How had he recognized her voice? Does he know her? I still didn't ask Jill about picking up the phone and answering to Marcus. Truth be told, I can't bring myself to look at her. Every time I look at her, I think of how broken Adrian had looked the night before. I shouldn't have been so harsh on him, so cold. He was just being protective, he was worried about me.

The thing that bothers me the most is the fact that he had been drinking. Was it because of me? Why was he even at the restaurant anyway and with Dimitri of all people? I sigh and reach for my phone for the thousandth time. A part of me is telling me to call him and apologize but the other part is saying to drop the phone and that calling will only make things worse. If I call, he might jump to conclusions. I have to action now. After calling me all night and realizing that I'm not going to pick up, he gave up on me. A part of me was sad, a very big part, the other satisfied.

My phone rings for the first time this morning and I look at the caller ID. It's Adrian. My hands start to shake and I run a hand through my hair. I can't continue ignoring him like the coward I am. Before I can change my mind again, I answer his call.

"Sage?" Adrian says.

I stop breathing.

"Sage you there?" he asks again.

I shut my eyes and lean back against my pillows. I can't do it. I just can't. The tears I have been holding back since the time I woke up start to fill my eyes again.

"I'm sorry Sydney ok? I was drunk and angry from Belikov watching over me. The Marco guy looked like he was harassing you Sage and so I took over things. What else could I have done? Let him…" Adrian says. "I don't who he is or what you were doing with him. It isn't my business and you don't have to tell me anything. Just talk to me again ok? Give me another chance Sydney, please."

I shut my cell off and slip it into my bag. A small knock brings me back to the world and I quickly dry my eyes.

"Come in," I call.

"Hey," Rose says stepping in. "We're going to head over to the mall now for Christmas shopping, are you ready?"

"Yeah," I tell her and get up. I slip on my jacket and purse and walk out of the cabin while Rose follows me, making sure to lock the door.

Jillian POV

Christmas is the best time of the year. It's the time where everyone come together and spend the day as a family with good food, presents, kisses under mistletoe, and stories by the fireplace. I remember the Christmases I shared with mom. They were filled with love, smiles, and laughter from the morning till the night. The best part of preparing for Christmas, besides cooking, is shopping. The mall is the perfect place to shop. I never know what exactly I'm going to buy until I walk by the different stores and let my mind wander among the different goods, services, and mouthwatering food.

This Christmas Eve isn't the best I've lived through. Everything's jumbled up and broken. Sydney's avoiding Adrian, Lissa's avoiding me, and the worst of it all is that Eddie won't even look at me or talk to me.

It's been three whole days and there's still no hello, how are you, or anything and it hurts. I know what I did was stupid, but I couldn't let him go alone and get hurt because of me. I won't be able to live through that. Maybe one day he'll understand why but that's far away from now. He's with Angeline, my friend, and their happily together. But never did I think that Eddie would be the one to yell at me like that. I expected Rose to blow off of her head but she didn't. She kept her mouth shut after seeing my broken face and had a feeling that Eddie already took care of it. Eddie has always been the friend who holds me up during tough times, he's the one who tells me everything's ok when it's not, he's the one who makes me feel safe, whole and wanted.

I walk through the town's surprisingly large mall with Adrian and Mia by my side. Sydney, Rose, and Lissa wandered off to a shop together and Dimitri and Christian to another. Eddie's somewhere behind us lurking amongst other people, not wanting to be seen.

"Oh my look at those boots!" Mia says stopping in front of these beautiful, high heeled, olive green, knee length boots with belts decorating the soft leather like material. "They'll look absolutely gorgeous on Rose!"

I smile. "They'll look awesome on her, what do you think Adrian?" I ask looking at him. I frown as I follow Adrian's gaze to the store next door where Sydney's shifting through some clothes uncomfortably while Rose and Lissa practically tear down the whole store, pulling out thousands of shirts and pants. "Adrian, are you ok?"

He nods and slowly turns to look at the boots. "You should buy them Mia, they're perfect for Rose."

Mia grins. "Thanks, do you mind if I go in and look around a little before I buy them? The store looks good."

"Yeah," I say. "Go ahead, and Adrian, you don't have to follow me around either. I'm going to go to that jewelry store over there."

Adrian nods and looks over his shoulder at Eddie. "Ok Jailbait," he says ruffling my hair. "Make sure Castile goes with you ok?"

I nod and watch him walk towards a book store. I stuff my hands in my hoodie and walk over to the store named Maru. It doesn't seem like a big store but I've heard from my friends back at St. Vlad's that they sell beautiful jewelry for a low price. I walk over to the glass box where the more expensive jewelry is and I look through the bracelets, earrings, and necklaces and stop at a beautiful charm bracelet locket. It's so beautiful, so…enchanting.

"Can I see that one?" I ask the lady up front, pointing to the bracelet.

"Of course dear," she says handing me the bracelet.

I take it in my hands and slip it on carefully. I turn my wrist around and smile as the charms clang against each other like summer bells. My fingers brush against the locket and my smile widens. I've always wanted a locket where I can put a picture of my family. Maybe I can get a picture of mom, Adrian and even Lissa.

"It's beautiful isn't?" the lady says. I nod. "You can have words engraved on the locket for just fifty dollars."

My eyes widen as I slip of the bracelet and hand it back to the lady. "How much is it?"

"Two hundred and fifty dollars," she says and smiles at my shocked face. "It's pure silver and the locket is gold."

"I'm good, where are the uh, much cheaper bracelets?"

The lady chuckles and points out an aisle. "Over there sweetie."

I walks through the aisle that's lined up with different kind of bracelets from gems to beads that are at a much more decent price. I stop walking as I come across a bead bracelet that looks completely Angeline. I want to buy her something and maybe ship it to her house for Christmas. It'll probably get there around New Year's but it's worth it. I don't want her to feel left out.

I pick up the bracelet and walk over to where Eddie's standing. "Eddie, do you think Angeline will like this bracelet?" I ask.

Eddie shrugs. "I don't know,"

"How about these earrings?" I ask picking up a beautiful, dark maroon hangings that dazzle under the store's bright yellow lights.

"I really don't know Jillian," he snaps. "I'm pretty sure you're capable of making a decision yourself, I don't think you need a guardian for that to."

My heart plummets into my chest and my eyes fill up with tears as his cold words echo through my head. I look away from him so he can't see that I'm crying and set the earrings down. I pick up my purse and walk out of the store while Eddie's back is to me. I don't look back to see if he's following me.

Sydney's POV

After two and a half hours of shopping and completely finishing our Christmas shopping, we all meet back at the food court.

"I'm starving," Rose says rubbing her stomach as she leans into Dimitri.

"You're always hungry," Christian says.

"Oh be quiet Sparky," Rose says sticking out her tongue and rolls her eyes as Christian sticks his out at her.

I can't help but smile at the two as I sit down on a chair. "Where are we going to eat?" I ask as Jill leans her head on my shoulder. I look at her surprised at her and frown as I take in her fallen face. Something must have happened. I wrap and arm around her and give her a squeeze. "You ok?"

She nods and forces me a smile. "Adrian's looking at you," she says. "You should go talk to him."

"Yeah," I say sighing. "I probably should mom."

She rolls her eyes and smacks my arm playfully. "Haha," she says.

"How does Chinese sound?" Lissa asks Jill shyly.

Jill blushes and sits up straighter and nods. "I like Chinese."

"That's great, I need to go the bathroom. Do you want to come with me Jill?" she asks.

Jill nods and looks at me nervously before following her sister into the bathroom with Rose behind her. Christian stuffs his hands into his pockets and looks at me and Adrian.

"Dimitri and I are going to go in and order something for Lissa and Rose. Do you want us to order something for you or do you want to go and get a menu?" Christian asks.

"I'll get a menu," I say.

"Same here," he says getting up. "Go get a table Sage, I'll get the menus."

I nod and watch the three leave. I look around the food court and find a table by the water fountain and walk over to it. I sit down on one of the seats and put my bag on the other seat for Adrian. I lean my head against my arms and tap my fingers on the table. I've never had Chinese before, the most I know about it is that it's very oily and very fattening. Maybe I should find a place where they're selling a salad.

"Sage?" Adrian asks softly.

I blush and look up at Adrian as he hands me a menu. "Sorry," I say and reach for the menu while picking up my purse from his seat. "I was just thinking about something, I didn't mean to zone out on you."

He chuckles and sits down. "You don't have to apologize," he says as he looks through his menu.

I open mine up and look at Adrian above the authentic menu. I take in his familiar stylishly messy brown hair and his emerald green eyes that move across the paper, stopping every now and then. His hands seem to tighten on his menu and I bite my lip, unsure of what to do next. We have to talk sooner or later. Sooner is the right way to go no matter how much later sounds better.

"Adrian?" I whisper.

He looks up from his paper with an eyebrow raised. "Yeah, you ok?"

I nod. "Look, about yesterday night…" I say, struggling for the right words.

"I shouldn't have done what I did, I know, and I really am sorry Sydney," he says as he leans forward on the table. "I didn't mean to get so defensive."

I give him a small smile. "He shouldn't have talked back to you like that either, he led you on, it wasn't all your fault."

"It wasn't _all_ my fault," he says grinning.

"Well some part of it was, you shouldn't have gotten so defensive over me, I'm a big girl."

"You're not that big to me Sydney, you'll always be vulnerable to me no matter how deadly you look when you're fighting."

I blush and look down at my menu, unable to meet his eyes. We return to our usual silence and I look back up at him. He catches my eyes this time and frowns as he takes in my anxiousness. He reaches across the table and takes my hand in his. I take comfort in his warmth and despite myself, I lean a little forward on the table.

"Sydney," he says, calling me by my first name, the six lettered name that sounds more like a lullaby when he says it than a name. "What's wrong?"

"His name is Marcus Finch, he said that he called my cell before and that Jill picked up. Jill never says her name before asking who the other person is and she never tells her name to those who know me Adrian but somehow, he knew, he knew that it was Jill who picked up the phone!" I say, my voice getting a little high as my heart pounds against me chest. I've been wanting to talk to him for so long and now that we're back to the talking zone, I can't seem to be holding myself back. I can't hold back the fact that I'm scared and need someone supportive, someone like Adrian to talk to.

"Sage calm down," he says squeezing my hand. "Is Marcus the guy who was at the restaurant?"

I nod. "Yes, he was the guy I was trying to look for remember?" I tell him. "He was the guy in the picture Clarence gave Sonya to give to me."

"Yes, I remember that. But wait a minute, he contacted you before you could get a hold of him?" Adrian says, his frown growing deeper.

"Yeah he did. Adrian, he said that he heard that I was looking for him. How did he know that?" I whisper.

Adrian's hands tighten around mine as he narrows his eyes. "I don't know Sage, I don't know what's up but I don't like it."

"Sydney, Adrian are you alright?" Dimitri asks. "You still haven't ordered yet."

Adrian nods and lets go of my hand. I blush and pull my hand back onto my lap.

"We're just about to order. Dimitri can you do Sage and I a favor?" Adrian asks.

Dimitri raises and eyebrow surprised. "Sure, what is it?"

"Can you give me Sonya's number or email?"

**Well what did you think? I made the chapter long to make up for the wait **** Eddie was very mean wasn't he? You're probably wondering why he's taking it out on poor Jill so much but you'll find out next chapter! I started a blog, .com. You can find out the summaries of upcoming chapters and when to expect an update so check it out when you have the time **

_**Review's are appreciated! They make my day and again, if you guys see any mistakes please tell me **___

**~ Purrfictionist **


	17. Christmas Shopping Part Two

**Well here's the second part! It's pretty long, I think it's the longest chapter in this story! There's a much bigger author's note at the end so I'll let you read on **** If you see any mistakes, please tell me! I'd love to correct them. Read and review!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Richelle's character's but I do own my plot **

Chapter Seventeen

Christmas Shopping Part Two

Mia's POV

I pay the cashier the money and tell him to keep the change. He seems like a nice old men, ten dollars might do him some good. I pick up my bags and start to head out of the perfume store. I've been shopping for well over two hours and I'm starving. Rose texted me five minutes ago saying that the whole gang is over at the food court and that I should come to. I texted her back that I'm coming over just about two minutes ago. The thought of food itself is just mouthwatering.

"You've always loved shopping," a familiar voice says.

I stop walking and turn around to find the store empty. There's no one there but the old man and his shiny white hair. There's no red hair and blue eyes to be seen anywhere. I take a deep breath and face the door again when I see him standing by a kid's clothes store parallel to the one I'm coming out of. It's him. It's Mason Ashford in flesh and bone. My heart stops beating as I take a step forward and he takes a step back, his blue eyes full of pain and hesitancy.

"Meet me out by the empty parking lot," he says gruffly and turns around.

"Wait!" I cry but he's gone as fast as he disappeared the day he saved me from the Strigoi. I stop walking when I remember his blood red eyes during the attack and close my eyes. What am I doing? He's a Strigoi. He's made to kill, to kill people like me. But he's Mason, he's the same Mason you've been crushing on since you were in Kindergarten. He's the Mason who went out with Rose in high school, he's the dare devil boy who everyone knows, he's the boy who forgot about the girl in the back, he's my Mason. He can't hurt me, he won't! "I'm coming," I whisper before I run out the store, through the large crowd of people, and towards the mall doors.

I push through the glass doors and run through the parking lots.

_Meet me out by the empty parking lot_ he had said. The empty parking lot is eastwards to where I am. I take a sharp right and speed walk through the F parking lot which leads out to another one on the further side of the mall area where the lights aren't working right. My snow boots crunch loudly against the icy cement as I look around. Where is he?

A hand shoots and grabs my arm, pulling me further into the dark. I gasp and look up into Mason's now red eyes. All the fear that I've been trying to push away comes back to me and I stumble back against a wall.

"Mason?" I whisper.

He steps into the small yellow light above us and gives me a small smile. "Hey Mia," he says. "How are you?"

"Fine?" I whisper. "How have you been?"

His smile drops. "Not so good as you can see," he says.

I let out a sob and throw my arms around him. He stiffens in my arms and pushes me away.

"D-don't do that," he says as he takes a step away from me. "Don't ever do that Mia, I can hurt you."

I reach and out grab his hand daringly as I swallow my fear back. "You won't hurt me Mase," I tell him as I pull him back. I put my free hand where his heart once used to beat and look up at him. "You won't hurt me."

His hand trembles as he reaches out to brush away my tears. "I've missed you," he whispers. "And Eddie, Rose, and everyone. I saw Rose once or twice, I played a ghost you know? I got her to believe I was a ghost! I even gave her advice, I told her what was happening and…"

"And what Mase?" I ask him as he pulls away from me. He walks over to the wall and slides down onto the floor. He leans against the cold brick wall and rubs his hands together as he looks up at me as if asking for me to come sit by him. I do so and take his large hand in mine. "What happened?"

"They didn't like it," he whispers as he rolls his up his black hoodie's sleeve to reveal a scar. Strigoi heal fast and this… this is a scar. How could they have done this to him? "I'm not supposed to be here."

I look up at him and realize what's actually happening. I a Moroi am comforting and being comforted by a Strigoi who lust for the blood of my people. "I had a feeling."

I lean my head against his shoulder and sigh. "I don't want you to go, I want you to stay Mase. Then… then Lissa can heal you!" I tell him as I grab his shoulders. "Then you can come back to us."

He shakes his head sadly. "It isn't that easy Mia."

My smile falters. "What do you mean?"

"They'll notice me missing."

"So what Mase?"

He sighs and rubs his face with his hands. "They're using me as a guide Mia. They want me to help them kill Jillian Mastrano. I've been leading them in circles all this time and if I disappear or if I falter just a little bit, they'll know I've been lying this whole time."

I look down at my hands and try to swallow back the tears. Even…even as a Strigoi, he's trying to protect us and help us. My Mason's still in there.

"Mia," he whispers after a long minute of silence. I turn away from him and bury my face in my hands. I can't have him looking at me like this, he'll think I'm weak. "Mia, look at me."

His large hands gently pull mine away from my face. His blue eyes pour into mine and I blush as he pushes me back against the wall. His long fingers brush away my tears and he gives me a small smile.

"You got contacts," I whisper, trying to break the tension.

"Yeah, I like blue eyes," he says.

"I like them to," I say and blush as I realize what I just said. "I mean I…uh…"

He chuckles and shakes his head. "Oh Mia, don't worry about it," he says.

"Thanks, just forget I even said that."

He mumbles something and nods. "Yeah. Mia you can't tell anyone that you saw me and that I'm like…this ok? Not even Eddie."

I frown. "But why Mason? Poor Eddie deserves a right to know about all this."

"He does and if he knows, he'll be more focused on me than Jill."

"You can't abnegate yourself like that, you deserve to be worried over to Mase,"

"I'm not as important as the last Dragomir Mia."

I sigh and run my hands through my hair frustrated. I push myself up to my feet and walk around the parking lot. "So this is it? You're going to leave and I never saw you?"

He nods as he walks into the darkness, away from me. "Yep," he says.

"How are you going to get back? The sun's out."

"I won't burn much if I run fast," he says. "The forest is nearby."

"Mason?" I call as his tall figure grows smaller and smaller. "Mason wait!"

He stops walking and turns around as I run up to him. "What is it?"

"Is this the last time I'll see you?" I ask.

He looks into my eyes and then at his feet. "I don't know."

"Can't you try?" I whisper as I grab his hand. "Can't you try to come and see me? Mason I miss you, I thought you were dead and now I know you aren't, I know there's hope now, hope that you can come back to us, and you're running away."

He reaches out with his spare hand and tilts my shaking chin up so I can look him in the eye. "I'll try Mia. I will but I can't promise you anything."

I nod and start to pull back when he pulls me back. I look up at him confused and watch as he hesitantly pulls me into a hug. His arms encircle my small body and he pulls me closer and closer towards him so that I'm resting my hand against his chest. I breathe in his familiar sent and let out all the tears I've been holding back. His hand rubs circles into my back and he hushes me softly as I soak his hoodie.

"I'll make everything ok again Mia. I promise."

Jillian POV

Lissa walks out of the bathroom and rinses her hands as she watches me from the corner of her eyes hesitantly. I give her a small smile and look down at my feet. How much more awkward can this get? As if sensing my uneasiness, Lissa walks over to Rose and whispers something in her ear.

"You sure?" Rose asks.

Lissa nods. "Yep, we'll be alright."

Rose shrugs and gives me a smile as she walks out of the bathroom. I look at Lissa and watch as she sits down on the chair next to the sink's counter on which I'm sitting on.

"I didn't think we needed a guardian when we're in the bathroom," Lissa explains.

I nod. "Yeah, that's true," I say. What do I say to her? All this time, I told myself that Lissa would never even bother to make an attempt to actually talk to me and now she did! "How are you?"

Lissa smiles. "Fine, how are you?"

I shrug. "Fine," I tell her.

"Really?" she asks. "Fine?"

I frown. "What do you mean?"

"Jill, you look you've cried an ocean. And I also have a feeling that being exiled into Palm Springs isn't 'fine'."

She can really read a person. I sigh and rub my eyes. I thought I didn't look so bad after rinsing my face with ice cold water five times, apparently I don't.

"It's nothing."

"Jill," she says. "You can talk to me you know? I'm probably not the first person you might go to talk, it'll probably be Sydney but I'm still here."

I smile at how she says Sydney. She's jealous of Sydney Sage. "I know," I say. "You're so busy though, I don't want to bother you."

"Busy?" Lissa says shocked. "Jill, you're always first! Family before business!"

"Family before business because without me there will be no business," I mumble.

Lissa blushes and shakes her head slowly as she takes my hand. "Jillian, you're not just the last Dragomir, the last person in our line who keep me standing as a queen. You're my sister. Never, I mean never think that way Jill."

I nod and look down at her hands. "I didn't mean to say that,"

Lissa gives me a sad smile and shrugs. "It's ok, but is that what you think of me? That I'm so cold, heartless person who's just using you?"

"No," I tell her immediately. "You're really nice Lissa, like above nice. I just thought that you don't want me as a sister."

Lissa grows silent and wipes the tears away from her eyes. She sniffles and lets out a deep breath. "No Jill," she says as her voice cracks. "I don't hate you as my sister. I've always wanted a sister who I can play with when I was little. I always wanted a baby sister who I can braid her hair, do her nails, tell her about my crushes, giggle and laugh with, and share my life with. I just… I just was shocked that when I finally got a sister, I got one the way I did."

"I was shocked to," I whisper as a tear rolls down my cheek. "And I always wanted a sister to."

She lets out a sob and jumps off her seat while pulling me into a hug. "Oh Jill, I love you, I love you so much. I just wish you were home with me!"

I let the tears run down my cheek as I rest my head on her shoulder. "Me to."

We pull away laughing. We dry our eyes and blow our noses, smiling at each other.

"Now, tell me why you were crying in the first place."

I bite my lip and sit back on the counter next to her, silently wondering when the marble counter's going to break. Should I tell her? What if she yells at Eddie? What if he gets in trouble?

"Jill?" Lissa asks.

"You have to promise me that you won't yell at him or get him in trouble," I whisper. "And you have to promise me that you won't tell him I cried."

Lissa nods. "I won't but you need to tell me who this 'him' is."

"Eddie."

Lissa frowns. "Eddie? What did Eddie do to you Jill?"

"Remember that Strigoi attack a few days ago?" I ask her. She nods silently as she takes my hand in hers. "Well, I did something stupid. I went after Eddie because I was scared that he was going to get hurt. He got really angry Lissa and he yelled at me. I never saw him so angry and he never yelled at me like that, he never yelled at me at all! Ever since then, he stopped talking to me and he won't look me in the eye anymore."

I stop talking and take a deep breath as my eyes start to blur with tears. She hands me a tissue and I blow in it loudly. I dry my eyes with my sleeves and continue.

"When we came to the mall, I went to a jewelry store and asked him if Angeline would like a bracelet I saw and he said he didn't know. I was so stupid Lissa, I knew he was angry but I just wanted to talk to him you know? And so I asked him another question and he got really angry and yelled at me. He said that I'm capable of making decisions myself and that I don't need a guarding to do that for me to. It hurt Lissa, it's like he called me stupid and hopeless in one sentence!"

"Oh Jill," Lissa whispers and pulls me into her arms as I sob. "I'm so sorry. He'll get past it, he'll see what he's doing to you. I never thought once that Eddie can be like this."

I nod as I pull back. "He's really nice, he's just angry at me now."

We fall into a deep silence and listen to the soft music playing above us. Lissa finally breaks it by asking me a question that gets me regretting telling her about Eddie.

"What do you think about Eddie and Angeline?" she asks.

I stop breathing. "I think they're a nice couple."

"Really?" she asks. "Oh God Jill, you like him don't you?"

I jump off the counter and grab my bags. I have to get out of here. Lissa jumps off and grabs my arm before I can reach the bathroom door.

"You have a crush on Eddie!"

I shh her and push her against the wall. "Don't yell!"

"You're not denying it."

"It doesn't matter how I feel Lissa, he's with Angeline."

"When?" she asks, ignoring what I just said. "When did you start growing feelings for him?"

"Since I went to Palm Springs with him," I tell her. "I always liked having him around me, I never noticed that it was because I _liked_ him. He was there for me and held me when I cried after Lee died and was there every time I needed him. When I was getting uncomfortable with Micah I ended up talking to Sydney. Sydney slipped and told me that Eddie liked me. I realized then that I liked Eddie to and I broke up with Micah. When I told this to Sydney after she came back from rescuing Sonya… she told me that Eddie had moved on. I still haven't told him I dumped Micah and I'm not planning to. I don't want to give Eddie another thing to worry about."

"Oh Jill, I'm so sorry!" Lissa says.

"It's ok, Angeline's my friend and she's really nice to Eddie."

"Well don't give up just yet Jill, you're a princess. You'll get your happy ending," Lissa says winking.

**I cried while writing Mia's part of the chapter! Mason is one of my favorite characters in the entire series and I cried like a mad woman when he died **** I couldn't keep him dead in my story so he's Strigoi! Good or bad, you'll find out soon. Just saying, I love Mia and Mason together and Jill and Eddie. But Mia is ok with Eddie but not when Jill's there! Do you think Mase can keep the Strigoi running around in circles? Will the Strigoi find out what Mase is doing? And yay! Lissa and Jill finally bonded! **

**I'm working on ****Heart's Truth or Brain's Logic****. I'm typing out the layout and that's going to be updated after ****A Happily Ever After?**** Does anyone have a better title for ****Heart's Truth or Brain's Logic****? It should be something along that line. ****Spared**** will take more time to be updated because I'm having a horrible writer's block **** I'm trying guys!**

**I'm planning to post a new story that's Mulan themed! I just watched the movie again and I had an awesome idea that I have to share with you all **** It's a 99% chance I'll be posting the story unless something happens to my fingers **** Does anyone have a cool title I can use? **

**Now that I'm done rambling….**_**REVIEW PLEASE! **_** They make my day and I'd love to know what you guys think **

**~ Purrfictionist **


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